The Black Box XIII
by ForbiddenKHfan216
Summary: "Sora, what did you see, man?" Riku asks softly. What the hell was going on? Sora whimpers softly, beginning to cry again. It was several moments before he could speak clearly: "I saw my brother and sister being roasted alive."
1. Chapter 1: Finding Friends

**I wasn't sure what to categorize this one under; after asking an expert (um… my sister) I decided it was sort of a mystery, suspense and tragedy all at the same time.**

**So I decided to put it as a mystery, as that's the primal part of the story. Finding out who did the crime.**

**So everyone, I hope you enjoy cause you have one hell of a long read awaiting as soon as you finish my notes.**

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is not mine. D-TV is mine, but only because it's a joke on MTV. By the way, it means Data Television, somewhat of a reference to DIZ's work on his big computer.**

**Updates will be coming soon! I have lots of notes!**

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><p><strong>Twilight Town Clock Tower; 6:15 PM<strong>

He kneels besides the twin corpses, taking care not to contaminate the scene. Snapping on a pair of fresh latex gloves, Riku Takamura carefully inspects the uncovered corpse of the pair. "Female. Looks like she's in her early teens." He says softly to the police officer attending to the scene. Despite his tender age –Riku was only about seventeen himself –he knew what he was doing. He carefully inspects the girl's charred skin, his blue-green eyes narrowing in mild sorrow. He never did like these kinds of cases. This kid was barely a teenager; she should have been out having fun, not end up dying. She was so young, an innocent. And Miss Jane Doe here was killed anyway.

His eyes flicker back to the large sheet of glass in the window: the murder weapon, according to the officer. Only a few hours ago, or so he claimed, it had been used as a gigantic magnifying glass, literally roasting Miss Jane and her friend alive, like a sick little kid burning ants on a hot summer day. Only these two weren't ants. He could only hope that they had been unconscious when it happened; there was no doubt in his mind that this hadn't been a tragic accident. The duct-taped legs and arms had testified to that.

He turns to the other body, uncovering it carefully from under its tarp. It had been found that way, though the girl hadn't been covered up. She had been out in plain view, or so said the janitor who had spotted the strange mirror and then the corpses. He had been absolutely terrified, but he had made the right choice in contacting the police. That's where he came in, the island's youngest (and brightest) forensic scientist. Silently, he notes the kid's small size – from the size, that's all the victim could have been; that or a midget- and the small size of its pelvis. It could only mean that this one was a guy.

"Male, mid-teens. I'd guess older than the girl." Riku calls out again, prompting the officer standing at the door to scribble down the information in a notebook. After doing so, the officer flashes him a thumbs up and a proud grin; Riku scowls. This was the problem with working for and under his older brother, Dante. Riku shakes his head and starts rummaging through the vic's clothing. He had already taken numerous photographs when he had arrived at the scene and now his assistant (his younger brother Haru, who wanted in on the family business and on a bigger allowance) took over, snapping picture after picture with the slim digital camera that the Takamuras used for business. Riku carefully extracts a few possessions from "Jane's" charred clothing. From how badly they were burned and how quickly they deteriorated as he worked, she had been in them when she caught ablaze. He carefully notes the girl's possessions as Dante writes them down in his notebook: "A wallet, cheap leather but no idea, Shadow coin purse with twenty-five munny in it, a mirror, shattered from the heat, a blue hairbrush, slightly melted and… oh shit."

At uncovering the last item, Riku's blood turned cold. He recognized it easily but his brain refused to believe what his eyes were seeing. It was an ID card from his school. Not only that, it was a membership ID to one of the most exclusive of his school's clubs. His gloved finger brushes against the glossy group of letter labeling the club: XIII, referring to the group Organization XIII. It was a small group, only having a dozen or so members. This meant that these two vics were two of them.

"Oh shit is right, dude." Dante murmurs in shock, staring at the slightly melted ID in his brother's hand. He may have been older but he knew what the card meant. It meant that someone had killed two of the members of the most notorious gang in the entire city, maybe even the entire island. Haru, who had been standing by and snapping pictures, suddenly dropped his camera and retched, running to the window and throwing it open; he barely managed to make it there before he lost his lunch, spewing it out of the tower window. Riku's hand trembled as he flips the card over and reads the female's name out loud: "Xion Mizuki Arugami-Minami. Age fifteen, in her sophomore year at Twilight High."

That was all he was able to say before he fell silent and began to tremble even harder. Hot tears began to leak out of his eyes as he stared at the last mortal remains of Xion Arugami. He knew this girl. He was barely able to contain himself as he choked back sobs. Xion is… was his friend. At one time, she had been his girlfriend, though the relationship hadn't lasted long with her jealous older brothers snooping around. She was one of his closest friends, along with being his best friend's younger sister. They had grown up together, loved each other, fought each other and shared so many memories together. And now she was gone.

Dante places his hand on Riku's shoulder, gently squeezing it reassuringly, for once playing the older brother to the little brother who needed him. Riku continues to sob even as Dante pulls him into his arms, gently holding him for a moment while Riku regained his composure. Dante then places a small box, an evidence box, into Riku's hands before he began to very carefully labels, dates and bags each of Xion's possessions as Riku shakily puts them into the box. It was standard routine on the island, and something they had done hundreds of times before. They had just never done it for someone they knew. Dante's eyes flicker over to the second vic and he murmurs: "You know what it means that Miss Jane over there is Xion, Riku."

For a moment, Riku had no idea what he was talking about. Then it hits it him like a punch to the gut and he flinches, staring at "John Doe" in horror. Xion was a careful girl, knew not to talk to strangers and always had someone with her, whether it be one of her two brothers, Riku himself or their friend Axel Blaze. Which meant that Mister John Doe over there had a high chance of being Axel or one of the Minami twins. He immediately gets up, kicking the tarp away from the body and began quickly searching through the body's ashy pockets. He was looking for anything, just anything, that would prove that he was wrong and that this wasn't his friends' crime scene, that they were dead. With trembling hands, he removes a leather wallet from the kid's back pocket. He opens it up and finds an ID, reading the kid's name out loud: "Roxas Jesse Arugami-Minami. … Age sixteen, in his junior year at Twilight High. The victims are related."

Dante nods, scribbling down the information in his notebook.

Riku stares at the remains of his two friends, feeling conflicting emotions wash over him. A strange sense of relief that it had been Roxas instead of his friend Sora, heartache that Xion had died as well, numbness at having been called in to find his friends' bodies, anger at their wasteful deaths and miserable, painful sorrow. They hadn't deserved this. They never had.

Riku sits down besides the two corpses, his mind taking rapid mental snapshots of the scene: the way that the siblings' hands were intertwined - a detail he hadn't noticed before -, how dark their once pale skin had become, the foul stench of smoke and of charring flesh that still radiated through the room, becoming stronger despite how the fire had been put out several hours before, and how tightly their limbs had been duct-taped to each other, Roxas's right wrist to Xion's left which only gave them the barest amount of room to move their hands. They had most likely held the other's hand as their last act in their lives. There was almost no doubt about it. They had suffered, hadn't they? Riku could read it in what little flesh remained on their skulls, as most of it had seared off in the intense heat of the magnifying glass. He no longer had the hope that they had been unconscious; he was sure that they had felt every single last agonizing moment until their hearts had stopped beating from the shock.

Speaking to Dante to make sure that their teeth were examined and matched to their dental records, Riku didn't feel his cell phone vibrating in his pocket at first.

"Riku, I can handle it from here. Go ahead and answer that." Dante says, nodding towards Riku's jeans. Riku nods numbly, only now noticing the vibration. He had been concentrating too hard. He removes his black cell phone from its holster in its pocket, absentmindedly rubbing the Defender's shield as he always did when he used his phone. He checks the caller ID and, without realizing it, he smiles. His heart felt a million times lighter but also a thousand times heavier. It was the moment of truth, he supposed. He holds the phone to his ear and presses the talk button.

"Hey, Sora."

For a moment, the voice on the other end was silent except for some labored breathing. Sora Minami wheezes weakly for a moment before whimpering softly. "Riku?" He asks in a hoarse whisper before coughing violently, bursting into silent sobs that made the older boy flinch.

"Sora? Hey, what's wrong?" Riku asks, though mentally he was kicking himself. Whatever the problem was, he was about to make it a hundred times worse with his news about his latest "clients" as Sora called them. That's why he was so surprised when he heard Sora say:

"Riku, Roxas and Xion are dead."

"_**What? **__…_Sora, how the hell do you know that they're dead?" Riku demands quietly, trying to keep his older brother from hearing. Nevertheless, Dante immediately looked up, frowning. He stands up and snatches the phone, putting it on speaker.

"Sora, this is Dante. How the hell did you know that?" He demands softly, his blue-green eyes narrowing suspiciously. They had only been called an hour or two ago; there was no way in hell that Sora would have known until the identity of the bodies had been confirmed, which would have taken an hour or more to check the dental records.

Sora's voice cracks as he whispers softly: "They are dead, aren't they. That's why you guys are there in the Clock Tower." Dante and Riku exchange dumbfounded glances: how did Sora know where they were? In fact, how did he know about the bodies? Dante's brow furrows, making Riku shiver. He knew his brother's reasoning. The only person besides them that would know about the bodies would be the person who killed them.

Sora had just become suspect number one.

"Sora, tell me right now. How. The. Hell. Do you know about the bodies?" Dante snarls, putting emphasis on the first part of his sentence viciously. His hand was trembling as he clenched it over the phone, coming very close to shattering it.

Sora makes a choking noise for a moment before he clears his throat and whispers: "I saw it. I saw them being burned alive."

Dante flinches as if the phone had physically burned him and he glances at Riku in shock. Riku shakes his head, knowing for a fact that Sora hadn't done it. In fact, Sora would be the one most heartbroken by his siblings' death. He had no motive for it. Either way, Riku had faith in his friend; he hadn't done it.

"Sora, you tell me everything you know. How exactly do you know this?" Dante continues in an oddly calm voice, sounding much colder and calculating, as if waiting for Sora to slip up. His cop voice. Riku could almost see the gears turning in his brother's head and he knew him too well not to know what he was up to. Sora was being interrogated.

Sora coughs again and asks softly: "Can I come over to your house, Riku? I don't want to be alone…" He starts crying, hysterical sobs that made Riku want to abandon the crime scene and go comfort his friend. Sora and his siblings had been very close, despite their connections to the Organization, and he loved them with every fiber of his being. He had just lost his best friends and not only that, the other halves of his heart, his companions and his partners. He was all alone now.

"Answer the motherfuckin question, Minami!" Dante snaps, making Sora hiccup in shock.

t takes him a few moments but Sora says dully, as if he had run out of tears to cry: "It's all over D-TV. There's a new section on the website, Riku, called the "Black Box XIII." Axel showed me the video."

Dante looked confused so he asks: "What the _**hell **_is D-TV?" in a puzzled voice, glancing at Riku. He looks surprised as Riku begins to tremble, shock appearing in his eyes. Riku knew exactly what Sora was talking about; it was one of the most popular websites on the web, though not exactly one for adults. Many of the students at their school and around the entire island watched the shows on the site diligently, almost religiously in some cases. It had started off as a blog for the owner of the site, someone named *HiddenOblivion15*, but had quickly spiraled into a huge network of kids posting and sharing videos, artwork and stories. The most popular sections were the ones belonging to *Hidden himself, though no one knew who he was. In fact, there was a daily contest to see if someone could figure out *Hidden's identity and where he lived in the island. So far, even after three years, no one had found him.

"Sora, what did you see, man?" Riku asks softly, contorting his face into a disgusted expression. He didn't like the sound of this. What the hell was going on?

Sora whimpers softly, beginning to cry again. It was several moments before he could speak clearly enough for the brothers to understand: "I saw my brother and sister being roasted alive."

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><p><strong>Dum dum dum...<strong>

**Yeah, I know, I'm being morbid again.**

**I don't care.**

**So, whoever's reading this, I hope you enjoyed it and please review afterwards!**

**If there's anything you found weird, go ahead and tell me.**

**Just don't flame me about it, I find that very irritating.**

**To my older readers, my updates are going to be taking a long time to get in; I'll be working on this and my Chasers story for a while.**

**-Forbidden**


	2. Chapter 2: Black Box XIII

**Well, it's official, I'm messed up.**

**I killed Roxas and Xion, hahahaha!**

**… Well, Square Enix did it first.**

**Disclaimers: Kingdom Hearts is not mine.**

**You know, the whole reason why I think I can write what Riku and Sora are going through is because I've gone through it myself. I've not had someone I love die (except for my grandpa; I love you, Abuelo) but I've been through that sort of depression. I know what it's like to be trapped in that dark place and I know what it's like to know no one's really there. It's just that the person I want to see isn't dead, but it might as well be like that. So, forgive the sob story on here; I only wanted to shed a little light on the subject and not have you guys think I'm a total psycho: I just know what it's like.**

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><p><strong>Takamura Household, Destiny Islands: Eleven PM<strong>

Staring at the open calculus textbook on his desk, Riku absentmindedly taps his mechanical pencil against its crisp white pages, frowning to himself. Although he was supposed to be doing his homework, his mind kept wandering to the unconscious teenager in a sleeping bag beside his bed, curled up into a blanket and his face buried in a large black lion toy that he'd had since he was a baby.

Sora had been sleeping there since about eight o clock that night, ever since he had broken down and sobbed into his best friend's arms, mourning the loss of his twin brother and baby sister. It had been hours until he had passed out from sheer exhaustion, and even in his sleep, Sora continued to cry. Riku watches his friend miserably, tears prickling in his own eyes at how helpless both of them seemed. Sora was too terrified and too heartbroken to stay on his own while his parents were gone, so Riku had taken him in for the night. Although Haru and Dante had both protested, there was no way in Hades that Riku would leave him there by himself.

Sora moans softly in his sleep, his cheeks wet with fresh tears, as he murmurs softly: "Roxas… Xion… don't… run away…" Riku trembles, knowing that he was unable to help his friend. Sora was spiraling into a deep, deep darkness that only he could save himself from, just like Riku had several years ago after the disappearance of one of their friends. Sora had to be strong, as cruel as that sounded, and he had to move on. Riku knew it would take some time for him to fully recover, if he ever did. For now though, Riku could only offer him a comfortable spot on his carpet and as much love and attention as a quasi-brother could give.

That was what Sora had done back then and that was all Riku could give now. Riku sighs, rubbing his tired eyes miserably, wiping the tears off of his cheeks roughly. He had work to do, after all. He eyes the complicated math problems irritably before sweeping the clutter of pages back into his black binder, resolving to do it early in the morning before Sora woke up. He didn't even really need to go to class; this was the second time he had gone through high school after all. It was only thanks to his mother that he even was in that school. He had technically graduated several years ago, with a doctorate in medical science and forensics from one of the top schools on Destiny Island.

And now it was time to put all that knowledge to work.

Riku starts up his computer, ignoring the random bits of information floating by on his encyclopedia-like screen-saver. Normally, he would take a moment or two to process the information, but was it really the time to focus on the mating habits of a Darkside Heartless? Riku quickly opens a new internet session and logs into his account on D-TV. Along with being a video sharing site, it was also a blog and a instant messenger among other things, which was what Riku normally used it for. He ignored the messages from his "followers", which were mostly girls at his school who barely knew him and went right to the blog/video-sharing portion of the site.

He scans the new information, skipping whatever group of bright blue letters that he deemed unimportant. Then he saw it.

Unlike most of the headlines, which were a soft ocean-blue, this one was black and only held a single phrase: _**"Black Box XIII". **_Bingo. Riku clicks the link and scans the comments on the single video that this person had put up.

He quickly notices the similar trend among them, most notably how bizarre they were:

_'Anyone else think that this sh*t might be real?'_

_'Aw, man, that b8tch got f8ckin' fried, dude! Who the hell put this crap up on here? Where's *Hidden? Ain't he supposed to check this sh8t?'_

_'Oh my god… someone tell me this is a joke…'_

_'OMG, that's Roxas Arugami from Twilight High! What the heck is this?'_

_'Is this legit?'_

Double bingo. He had found his link.

Riku plugs his headphones into the audio jack, turning up the volume as he click the video. He glances over at Sora, making sure that the kid was still asleep. Sora only mumbles softly about Roxas missing an algebra test and how Xion had to get up for her tap-dance recital. Riku frowns before steeling himself for whatever he might see; no matter what, it was up to Riku to give Sora and his siblings justice.

As the video played, the tiny square was dark, no images at all. Riku was about to refresh the page when a sudden image appeared on the screen. He jumped, staring in surprise. It was Ami, the site's "patron angel" and its most famous icon besides *Hidden himself. It was the very well drawn image of a small angel, a sweet little blond girl in a blue dress with her eyes closed, a tiny halo and a petite set of pure white wings on its back.

He had seen it a hundred times over but this time was different.

Within seconds, Ami began to shift and warp, opening her eyes and revealing a crimson pair of irises. Her sweet smile contorts into a devilish grin and gave her the appearance of being insane, her normal silence being broken by a high-pitched giggle that sent chills running up Riku's spine. The pure white wings turned jet-black and Ami laughed louder, making Riku shudder in fear; the sweet little girl's face became covered in black and red splotches, making him gag.

Blood. Someone had coated Ami in _**blood**_.

Ami vanished as the video continued, but the angel's sick laughter remained echoing in his head as the image cut to a large dusty room. He hisses; it was the store room of the Clock Tower, where Xion and Roxas had been murdered!

The door to the room (which was perfectly visible to the camera, as if it had been placed somewhere very high up) opens and two teenagers run in, laughing and joking with each other. The echo in the room made their laughter understandable, as the camera picked it up easily. It was Xion and Roxas. Riku's eyesight immediately becomes blurred as he watches some of the last images of these two left alive. Almost as if by habit, his hand reaches up and touches the image of Xion, making him choke from the tears. He coughs softly, forcing himself to keep watching. There was no point in letting his own grief stop him from easing Sora's.

He shakes his head, steeling himself to watch the rest. Riku pulls out a few sheets of computer paper and immediately started taking quick notes, noting what the victims (as he was now forcing himself to call them) were wearing: Twilight High's infamous green plaid uniform bottoms - Xion, skirt; Roxas, pants - with white button-down tops that were also part of the uniform and a long black cloak. The trademark symbol of Organization XIII, Twilight Town's most notorious street gang and the de facto rulers over several other towns, including the ghost town of Castle Oblivion.

In the video, a sound of deep ringing - like that of church bells - began to echo through the empty room as Xion and Roxas walked in. One… two… three… Three times. It would have to be about three PM, judging by the rich afternoon sunlight that streamed through the many windows of the room. Apparently, Xion and Roxas had been playing hooky.

Riku clenches his teeth as the video continued, both scribbling down the time of day and watching as Xion and Roxas walked across the room, no doubt heading towards the other door. It led to a hidden staircase, where they would then climb to go up to a ledge just beneath the face of the enormous clock of the tower to have ice cream or just goof around there and talk about their day. Riku himself had joined them on numerous occasions for some sea salt ice cream (their favorite flavor and one he had a particular fondness from a date with Xion) and some laughs. He had always warned them to be careful, saying that one day they were going to get themselves killed there. He had meant falling off though, not this.

Then he saw the camera move and someone began to laugh softly from beside it. The laughter made him tremble. There was something that was just _**wrong **_with it, as if it was a mechanical voice box laughing, the sort of laugh that you would hear in a haunted house. It didn't even seem human.

As time elapsed, the camera moved again slightly, as if someone was adjusting it. Then he saw it.

A third person landed on the ground, as if he or she had just fallen a long distance. In mid air, they had rolled to avoid being hurt and ended up right beside Roxas. Roxas jumped, staring at the unexpected arrival in surprise. Riku stares, too; the murderer had the camera on the rafters!

Roxas steps back a few paces, backing away from the kid but his gaze remained focused on him. Riku rapidly scribbles down the clothes the kid was wearing: a long black cloak which was identical to Roxas's and Xion's but with a white band of cloth wrapped around its shoulder, what looked like thigh-length black boots, black gloves. He quickly makes a rough sketch of the kid: he was about a few inches shorter than Roxas, only a bit taller than Xion, so he couldn't have been much older or much younger than they were. His face and hair were hidden from view as the person had their hood up. Roxas then scowls and asks: "Who the fuck are you?" in a very clear voice, as if he had been standing right beside Riku's chair. Riku freezes and shudders: the perp was wearing a microphone, letting him get near perfect audio. He was taping his victims' voices.

Roxas repeats his question, moving his hand to his book bag, as if reaching for some sort of weapon. The third figure raise a hand, pointing over to a cloth-covered table. The pair look over and smile, exchanging amused glances as they spot a plastic bag covered in condensed water droplets. Both they and Riku recognized the logo on its side: The Twilight Town Ice Cream Shoppe. It was sea salt ice cream, the town's favorite treat.

"Ah… did you want to have ice cream with us? Alright, who's under there? Are you IX? … You know, you don't have to go to this length just to play a joke on us! What's up with that mask anyway?" Xion asks curiously, laughing in amusement, smiling brightly at the kid. Riku blinks in surprise. A mask? … Oh no… this guy was being careful. So far, he had given absolutely no sign of his true identity; it was going to be tough finding him out, unless they found some prints and hair at the scene.

The kid shakes his head no to Xion's questions before taking a step to the table to get the plastic bag. Roxas shakes his head and gives him a friendly smile. "Here, lemme get that for you. After all, the more the merrier." He says cheerfully, walking over to the table to get their treats; it had seemed like Xion and Roxas hadn't brought their own. The figure chuckles softly as Roxas picks up the bag, his back turned on both Xion and him.

Riku inhales sharply, straightening up in his chair as the kid walks up behind Roxas, pausing when he was about six inches away from him. The cloaked figure pulls a length of what looked like a chain from his pocket and reached up. Xion screams and Roxas begins to turn around but the kid was too quick; within seconds, he wraps it around Roxas's throat and tugs both free ends of the chain downward. Roxas lets out a strangled scream as he crumples to his knees, furiously scratching at the metal at his throat, trying to get free from it.

Xion lunges for the kid but the kid yanks down much harder on the chain, making Roxas choke. She stops, obviously getting the message that if she came any closer, the kid would strangle Roxas right in front of her. She trembles as she scrambles for the black book bag on her hip, her hand searching for the small can of pepper spray that Riku knew was there: he had given it to her himself. However, it seemed like the figure had prepared for this too; the kid took several steps backward, dragging the suffocating Roxas with him, tightening his grip on the chain until Roxas was gasping helplessly for breath, beginning to turn blue, his frantic clawing at the chain beginning to cease.

The kid laughs softly and throws Xion's older brother at her, sending the siblings sprawling to the floor in a heap with Roxas barely conscious on top of Xion. As they struggle to stand, the kid pulls out another length of chain, wraps it around Xion's throat and around his left hand and wraps Roxas's chain around his right. He tugs on them, tightening it around each of their necks, pulling the siblings almost off of the ground as he strangled them.

Riku watches as the kid continues to strangle them for several more minutes. His entire body was trembling, he knew for a fact that the kids wouldn't be able to last very long. The human brain could only survive for a few minutes without oxygen; within about three minutes, their brain cells would begin to die, causing irreparable brain damage. Fortunately, the kid seemed to know that. The moment that Roxas slumps over, unconscious, he drops his chain, letting the teenager drop to the floor. Xion chokes for several more seconds before she falls limp and the kid dropped her as well. He quickly walks away from the siblings, dusting his hands off as if they were covered in filth and disappears from view.

Riku seethes, seeing red. How _**dare **_he do that to Xion and Roxas! That rotten son of a bitch! He had barely been able to control himself as he watched this, tears springing to his eyes. That was _**his **_damn girl right there!

The camera then shifted slightly before it began to show images of the dirt-covered floor of the store room, a large wooden beam and of a pair of black metal-toed boots; the kid was moving the camera. Riku realizes that the figure must have placed the camera on one of the rafters and that he had been waiting for the siblings before they arrived. He somehow known that they would be coming soon and had set up a trap for them, taking full advantage of how they wouldn't suspect one of their gang-mates of trickery, despite the notorious reputation they had for backstabbing whoever they worked with, including their fellow Organization XIII members. That was how he suddenly appeared on the video: he dropped down from the rafters, dressed in one of their own Organization cloaks and hidden his identity so no one - not even Roxas and Xion - could tell if he was a real member or not.

The kid ambles across the room calmly, apparently swinging the camera slightly as he carried it, as the shot kept moving erratically up and down, showing brief shots of the kid's baggy black jeans, his boots, and of the dirt floor. There is a sudden and soft thunk as the figure puts down the camera, adjusting it slightly. He focuses the shot to the large, blank stretch of gray wall in the foreground and began to hum softly. The song was eerily familiar to Riku, as if he had heard it somewhere before.

Any thought of what the strange lullaby-like song might have been immediately exited his mind at seeing just what the kid was doing. The figure bends down quickly and scoops something up in his arms and began to drag it forward. Xion's head lolled loosely on her neck as the person pulls her in full view of the camera, wearing a strange band of what looked like gray plastic on his right wrist. He very gently pulls her to her feet and began pulling duct-tape from the roll on his arm, using it to very tightly bind the unconscious girl's wrists and ankles to the wall. As soon as he had finished, he turns to Roxas and begins the process again, slowly and sweetly humming the soft tune all the while.

Riku's skin began to crawl when Roxas had been propped up and his right wrist tapped against Xion's. The kid very gently caressed his cheek and then patted Xion's hair gently in an almost loving gesture. Although Roxas was completely unconscious, the figure leaned upward and brought his face close to Roxas's. An instant later, the screen turns black.

Riku blinks in surprise as the video flashes bright white for a moment before reverting back to its former inky darkness. The image of the now-demonic looking Ami Angel reappears and the girl smiles wickedly, throwing her head back and flipping her blood-soaked hair back in a silent howl of laughter. The words "Black Box XIII" in crimson font appear under her as she laughs inaudibly. She spreads her arms out wide, as if about to take off in flight, and a new set of golden letters materialize in her arms: "DO YOU"

Riku quickly scribbles the words down as the image shifts back to the storeroom. Roxas and Xion were now awake and Roxas was speaking.

"I don't know what the hell you think you're doing, kid, or who put you up to it, but you better let us go _**now**_, if you know what's good for you!" Roxas snarls furiously as he struggled violently against the thick bands of tape wrapped around his wrist and the ones that attached him to the wall. He spits at the kid's feet angrily even as Xion gave him an irritated look. Riku knew it was because they had constant arguments about Roxas's temper, which had gotten every single one of their friends into trouble, and she probably felt like it wasn't a good idea to piss off the guy who had knocked them unconscious and was now holding them prisoner.

Either way, Roxas continued to glare defiantly at the figure, scowling violently as if he was about to rip his way through the tape and attack him for what he had done to his sister. That was Roxas to a T: stubborn and defiant as hell, refusing to take shit from anyone, despite the danger he was in.

The figure only chuckled softly and shook his head wordlessly. He lifts his hand and points ominously over to the window. Roxas and Xion glance at where his finger was pointing instinctively and each one turns pale as they spot the huge sheet of glass wheeled near the window. Set in a large wooden frame, the "magnifying glass" was about several feet across in length and came up to about the figure's shoulder. Riku was shocked on how big the thing was: how in the hell did the guy manage to get it up the stairs? It looked like it was made of two sheets of glass and almost looked… curved in a way, like the edge of a sickle blade or some other sharp knife. It made Riku shiver and even the siblings were frightened by it, judging by the silence.

The figure fingers the black tarp that covered the glass before yanking it off, stepping back a bit as if to admire how it looked. He pats the wooden frame before turning to the siblings and holding his arm up like he was presenting it to them.

It was Xion who broke the silence first. "What… what the heck is that thing?" She demands in a soft voice, staring at the monstrosity of a mirror, her breath becoming labored from fear. She barely disguises her fear, openly wearing it on her expression along with a look of disgust. Xion began to tremble violently, but almost imperceptibly. But Riku noticed it, just as he had noticed her fear. She was so very scared and he could do nothing except watch what had happened so many hours ago. He grits his teeth in anger, tears welling in his now dark eyes.

What he would have given to spare her this.

The figure cocks his head to the side and chuckles quietly, placing his gloved hand on the middle of the mirror fondly. His low mechanical laughter grows louder, filling the empty storeroom with it as he stared at Xion. His body trembled slightly as he puts the tarp over it again and he wheels it backwards to place it directly in the sunlight.

It was at this point that Roxas snapped.

"What the hell's going on! Who are you! Who the hell put you up to this, you sick motherfuckin' freak!" He explodes as he angrily starts struggling even harder against the tape, furiously trying to get free. The figure's shoulders droop, as if he had been mortally offended by what Roxas had called him. He begins to tremble even harder, barely even able to stand up straight from how badly he was shaking and his hands shoot up to clutch at his temples. A low sound of pain emerges from underneath the teenager's hood and Riku stares at the screen in surprise as he hears a single choked noise.

The figure was crying.

The moment passes quickly though and the figure's maniac laughter soon overcomes his sobs, his trembling ceasing. He fingers the covered glass with a loving caress before pushing it several inches forward, putting it directly in the sun, blocking most of the sunlight from reaching the room. He rips off the tarp again and aims the device directly at Xion's right tennis shoe.

Almost immediately, the black canvas shoe ignites, prompting the girl to start screaming as her flesh began to burn. The figure laughs as Roxas yelps and tries to rip himself free so he could help his sister. The tape lets out a loud tearing noise but remained firm even as Roxas began to sob. He stares at his sister helplessly, unable to move, as she continued to scream in agony, as the fire began to very literally melt the plastic and cloth of her shoe into her skin. Within moments, her screams stop, replaced by severe shaking. Her eyes flutter rapidly, as if she was having a seizure, her mind and body going haywire from the pain as she continued to burn. Smoke trickles up from her sneaker and Roxas began to gag at the stench of searing flesh.

The figure laughs again, sounding very amused, and he walks over carrying something in one hand. Riku watches silently as the kid walks over with what looked like a janitor's mop bucket and he douses the flames with its filthy contents, pouring the water over Xion's leg. Xion's quivers began to ease up as the water faintly cools her skin, but her face remained pale, covered in sweat and she looked like she was barely managing to keep conscious. Her breath was coming in shallowly even as she bows her head to avoid looking at the figure that had lit her on fire.

"Oh shit… Oh shit…" Roxas whispers hoarsely as he stares as his trembling sister, tears cascading down his cheeks. From the horrified expression on his face, it had finally dawned on him that this was no joke, that none of his friends were hiding under that mask and hood, that they weren't going to jump out and say "Gotcha!", that this was real. It was all real and that his life and Xion's were now in the hands of a psychopath in a black jacket. It was no game.

The figure laughs softly before he walks towards the now covered glass, patting its wooden frame as if congratulating it on a job well done. He turns back to the siblings, chuckling quietly to himself. He bows his head to Xion, who had turned a sickly bluish-white color. Riku knew that she was going into shock from the pain, as her shoe was still glued to her flesh, keeping the flames going, trapping the heat beside her skin. It had to be at least a second degree burn, possibly even a third. Xion should have been unconscious long ago but instead she simply opens her closed eyes and looks up at the figure, lifting her head weakly. Riku chokes when he sees that single tear cascading down her clammy cheek, even as she spits defiantly at the figure.

She was crying. Xion _**never **_cried.

"You won't get away with this. You'll get yours. If not from us, from our friends. They'll kick your ass." Xion whispers hoarsely, coughing violently from the smoke. The mere effort of speaking made her begin to shake again.

"Let her go. Let Xion go! For the love of God, let my little sister go! Please!" Roxas suddenly shouts, staring at her in fear for a moment before his dark eyes flicker back to the figure. They were full of hatred and fear, but Roxas continues to defiantly hold his gaze even as Xion starts struggling to breathe, her trembling becoming worse. The cloaked figure only laughs at Roxas's begging. "Please... she needs to get to a doctor. She's hurt, please for the love of everything that's good and holy, let Xion go." Roxas says again, begging in a soft yet icily calm voice. His tone was one that someone might use on a very young child or on a panicked animal, urgent and insistent but firm.

The figure chuckles when Roxas then begins to choke on a wisp of charcoal smoke that had trickled up from Xion's charred foot. The girl's tears trickle down her pale cheeks as she mouths something to herself. A prayer, a lie, anything to keep her from screaming maybe. As he watched this, Riku wanted to snap one of one of the dark figure's bones for each tear he saw fall down Xion's cheek. He felt protective and hateful for no reason, as this had all happened a few hours ago. There was no point in him wanting to protect Xion; she was already gone. But he could catch her murderer. And he _**would **_do that.

Despite how badly she was burned in those few minutes that her foot had been aflame, Xion was still managing to keep herself conscious out of sheer will power. Struggling against her taped limbs, she asks softly: "Let my brother go. Let Roxas go. Please." At this point, she began to cough violently, her body trembling sporadically from the pain.

"Hell no! You let Xion go right now! You can do whatever the hell you like to me but let her go!" Roxas repeats angrily, shooting his sister a nasty glare. That was the Minami/Arugami family in a nutshell; it was almost a family law to protect the ones most precious to them above all else. Even if it meant dying for them.

The figure chuckles softly, shaking his head slowly. He then raises one hand, pointing his index finger almost accusingly at Xion and then at Roxas. He jabs his thumb towards the open tower door and shrugs at them. The siblings glance at each other, immediately understanding the gestures. It seemed that he was asking for them to choose which one of them got to leave. And which one of them had to die.

Within a few seconds, Roxas shouts his answer, even as Xion was beginning to form her brother's name on her lips. "Xion! You let Xion go!" He snarls angrily, jabbing his head at his younger sister. He began to tremble and Riku knew instantly why. There was no doubt in Roxas's mind that he wanted Xion to go, but he also didn't want to die. He was afraid.

Riku growls softly in the silence of his room as the figure on the video cocks his head again, staring directly at Xion. The figure points to her even as Xion begins to stumble over Roxas's name, her tongue clumsily mutilating her brother's name. Roxas nods in confirmation at the figure and the kid takes a quiet step forward towards her, his hand outstretched.

And he began to scream.

Riku, Xion and Roxas all jump at the same time, each one staring at the figure's shape as his wordless animalistic howl echoes and bounces off of the tower walls, making it seem like there was a battalion of kids screaming at the same time instead of only one. He clutches at his head in pain, continuing to shriek, his screams slowly becoming louder and higher-pitched. He runs over to the glass and rips its tarp off, focusing the glass directly at the siblings.

Within seconds, Xion's clothing are set ablaze and her screams begin anew with a renewed vigor as her entire body begins to burn. Roxas yells, tears appearing in his eyes as his little sister's skin cracks and blisters, splitting and coating her with a deep crimson hue. A moment before Xion's skin starts to peel away, it was Roxas's turn. His clothes are quickly in flames and his wordless screams for mercy are intertwined with his sister's. The video then turns gray as the smoke from each of the siblings fill the room, making it difficult to see anything that was going on except for random and sporadic details. Riku could briefly make out how the screaming siblings clasp the other's hand tightly, attempting to give each other one last comfort as they died. He could see the tortured faces of his friends as they burned alive and he could hear the laughter from the person who set them ablaze.

Xion's garbled final words are incomprehensible but Riku suddenly hears her voice cut off and sees her body suddenly fall over limp. He knows immediately that she was dead. Roxas's screams, calling out his sister's name, continued only for a few seconds longer and the smoke suddenly clears. The two still bodies were now doused, the last of the flames smothered when the figure cuts them down and throws a tarp on Roxas's corpse. Riku hears the kid's laughter suddenly stop and a low gasping sound begin in its place.

The figure walks to the camera and begins to hum a strange lullaby-like song again. The video goes dark as the kid turns the camera off. The image of the demonic angel appears again but with one subtle difference. Beneath her sandaled feet were the words: _"Two down, sixteen to go." _

Riku feels a hand clamp down on his own mouth and he's suddenly aware that he had been screaming soundlessly along with Xion and Roxas. Dante softly murmurs to him: "You're going to wake up Sora, you dumb shit."

Riku immediately clings to his older brother, sobbing soundlessly into him. What little he had restraining his emotions immediately shatters, turning him briefly back into a scared little boy afraid of the monsters, he remembered that there were monsters in the world, and that he had just seen one of them killing his friend. Dante softens as he notices what his brother was watching and wraps his arms around Riku, pulling his little brother into him. He quietly shuts the laptop off and starts humming softly to his brother. Despite Riku being nearly the same size as he was, he easily lifts him off of the desk chair and places him on the bed.

The two brothers spend several minutes there before Riku makes a strange choking noise and runs to the bathroom. He barely managed to make it before his dinner decided to reappear on him, hot bile spewing from his stomach and mouth as he continued to sob. When he was finished, Dante picked him back up again and tucked him into his bed, allowing his seventeen year old brother to cling to him as if he was five years old again.

He could still see them, pleading for help, help that would never come. Riku whimpers their names softly and Dante gently strokes his head, humming his little brother to sleep. Riku falls asleep in the meager sanctuary of his brother's arms as the screams of the innocent echo in his mind and find their way into his troubled dreams.

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><p><strong>You know, I read this over and I can't believe I wrote this.<strong>

**Poor Riku... and poor Xion and Roxas!**

**Well, you know the drill people, read and review.**

**-Forbidden**


	3. Chapter 3: Beginning to Break Down

**You know, I feel very sorry for Xion and Roxas. But not as much as I do for Sora. I mean, geez! He had to watch this!**

**Disclaimers: Kingdom Hearts is not mine, Final Fantasy is not mine and as far as I know, Destiny Islands does not exist.**

… **If I ever get my hands on an island, I'm totally naming it Destiny Islands though. It'd be fun! I could have the whole red pants and yellow clown shoes, too!**

**I just enjoy how silly I am in the authoress notes but how damn depressing this story is. I blame listening to "Alice Human Sacrifice" and the Nightcored version of "Zombies". **

**Only I have a question.**

**What do they call that crusty stuff on your eyes when you wake up?**

**Eye boogers?**

**Can someone tell me?**

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><p><strong>Takamura Household: Seven Fifty Two AM<strong>

The next morning, Riku slowly opens his eyes, wincing in pain at the soft morning sunlight drifting in through his bedroom window. Even after sleeping so long in the dark, it still hurt like hell to wake up to the first rays of the morning. He moans softly, rubbing his crusted-over eyelids sleepily.

Morning lark he was not.

Riku forces himself to get up, throwing the dark blue comforter away from him, tossing it on the floor. He sits on the edge of his bed, his left hand tightening slightly on his chest. There was a strange warmth in it, as if someone had lain their hand on it only a few minutes ago, as if someone had been there for him while he cried in the night. Dante had held him until he fell asleep but had left soon after, he knew. He runs his fingers through his bangs idly, frowning. He knew this feeling, didn't he?

He sighs softly, closing his green-eyes in order to think. Riku murmurs them softly to himself, trying to get the fact straight in his head without his emotions clouding them. First, Xion and Roxas were dead. Murdered. Burned alive. His heart suddenly aches sharply and he forces the tears away, gritting his teeth tightly.

He had seen those images throughout the night, ever since he had watched the video of their murder. He couldn't remember exactly what he had dreamed of but he could recall distinctive details. Chasing Xion through the summer carnival. Sora tied to a post, his eyes blank and dull. Looking for Xion and Roxas in a hall of mirrors. Finding Kairi's body on the ground, her eyes closed and her wrists tied tightly with what looked like duct-tape. The fleeting image of an angelic girl chasing him through the maze of glass mirrors, her soft cries going unheeded as he searched for his friends. Harsh mechanical laughter following his every step and only growing louder as he ran on. Finding Xion's and Roxas's reflections trapped in a set of mirrors only to watch as they began to scream and their skin literally melt off of their flesh as they burned alive...

Riku slaps himself with all of his strength, the force of the impact smacking him back to reality. He blinks rapidly and notices a sticky sensation dripping down his arms, like thick liquid being slowly dripped down his forearms. He glances down and flinches at the crimson stains on his upper arms, startled. He had been clenching himself so tightly that his nails had stabbed into his flesh with enough force to make him start bleeding.

He shakes his head and focuses back on the case. Yes, the last part had happened. Xion and Roxas had in fact been burned alive. He grunts in mild disgust as the tears begin trickling down his cheeks, wiping them away roughly. They had been murdered and now Sora... Sora.

Riku looks over at the dark red sleeping bag on the floor, only not to see one sleeping teenager in it. His eyes widen and he throws himself out of bed, rushing for the door. "Shit!" He hisses to himself as he accidentally slams into the door-frame, banging his hip against the wood. He slips on the rug just outside his room, smacking his head slightly and skidding several feet forward on the purple and gold monstrosity. He growls and jumps to his feet, his hand automatically catching the handle of the kitchen door.

"Dante, where's-!" He starts to shout but then freezes. He stares at his older brother for a moment and then slams his head on the door-frame.

Dante blinks at him in confusion before turning his attention back onto the charring flapjacks in the pan on his hand and he prods with it with a soot-covered spatula. "I can fucking shoot a target at freakin' at a hundred meters but I can't make freakin' pancakes. What the hell!" He snarls moodily, dousing the blackened mess into the sink full of dirty dishes. It hisses angrily as the hot oil meets the water and Dante wipes his grease-covered hands on his bright pink floral apron, his eyes trailing down to look at the still bleeding marks on Riku's arms. He says nothing but just adjusts his apron.

Sora meets Riku's eyes and shakes his head, shrugging as if to say that he had absolutely no part in Dante's attempt to cook breakfast. He smiles at Riku and then returns to choking down soggy cereal slowly, as if he couldn't really stomach the meager amount of food.

Riku turns to his brother and snatches the spatula from his hand, shoving him towards a chair at the kitchen table. He starts focusing on remaking the batter, after seeing that Dante's was a very strange oily black. As he mixes the milk and the pancake mix, his thoughts remain focused on the strange smile that Sora had given him. That blank smile had made him want to run over, bundle his friend up in a blanket, and hide him somewhere where the monsters wouldn't touch him, where he'd be safe. He recognized the look immediately, having seen it hundreds of time in his own reflection. Sora was beginning to break down, though he was hiding it.

He remembered that smile so well, just because he had made it himself so many damn times before. Sora was suffering, still crying inside over the deaths of his beloved siblings, still trapped within his own darkness. Sora was breaking, though the only thing that betrayed his facade of happiness was his blank soulless eyes.

"Eh, what a waste. How you managed to learn how to cook is beyond me. Right, Sora?" Dante comments jokingly as he looks at the charred pan in the sink, resting his head on the back of his chair lazily. Sora smiles and chuckles softly, scooping up another spoonful of beige soggy cereal. He shovels it into his mouth quietly and begins to chew the soft mass of sugary wheat slowly.

"Good mor... What the hell is Dante wearing?" Haru asks sleepily as he walks in, already dressed in his school uniform. He takes a seat beside Sora, yawning loudly and he continued to stare at Dante's apron. Dante chuckles and gives him a scowl. "Don't curse, Haru. It's not polite. You want pancakes or do you want cereal?" He asks, nodding towards Riku, who beginning to pile up golden-brown oblong shapes onto a china plate. Haru thinks about it for a moment before walking over to the counter and snatching several pancakes up and then yelping as they burn his fingers.

"You dumb shit," Riku says irritably, slapping the spatula lightly into his brother's hip in annoyance. "They're called _**hot**_cakes for a reason. Get a plate." he snaps when Haru gives him a glare, rubbing his injured thigh. He growls a curse but grabs a plate, shoving a pile of five or so pancakes onto it and bringing it to the table.

"Ah, Mama Riku makes his appearance. Better eat up, kiddo, or else he's gonna go after you, too." Dante comments in amusement, ruffling Sora's hair idly. Sora chuckles softly and spoons another mouthful of mush into his mouth, smiling blankly as he stares into the depths of his purple cereal bowl, as if hoping that it held all the answers to his problems.

Riku shakes his silver fringe out of his eyes, muttering irritably: "One of us has to act mature." He knew what Dante was doing by treating Sora like he was okay and he was grateful for it. It would help bring the silent teenager back to reality. … But did he have to be so annoying?

"Man, I'd like some toast. Wouldn't you like some toast, Sora? I bet you would like some toast. Riku, how about you make us some toast?" Haru says through a mouthful of pancakes, nudging the brunet thoughtfully. Sora blinks in confusion, his brow furrowing as he continued to look down at his cereal. Dante scowls. "Haru Walter Takamura! You shut your mouth!" He snarls in a soft whisper and then Haru yelps, nearly throwing the table over when his legs slam into the underside of it. Dante had mashed his boot into Haru's foot.

Loafer VS metal-toed combat boot: boot wins.

"If you want toast, get up, Haru. I'm not Mom." Riku says softly, making both of his brothers flinch. Haru immediately flushes and gets up, popping the breadbox open and yanking out several pieces of wheat bread. He quickly shoves the slices into the toaster and busies himself to watching the four slits carefully, hiding his emotions from his brothers. Sora blinks slowly before getting up, moving the chair backwards as he stood. He silently tosses his still full bowl into it before sitting back down, resting his head on the kitchen table, his eyes closed.

The three brothers wince as they begin eating, each one taking his time in gulping down their respective plates of pancakes, toast and drinking their milk or coffee. Sora remained silent, sitting between Riku and Haru. Riku cuts into his first pancake, delicately stuffing the piece in his mouth. He remained focused on watching Sora, if only to jump up and grab him if the abnormally silent teenager did something.

"So, Sora, you gonna go to school today? Or you wanna stay here with me? I can write you a note or something." Dante says, tearing a slice of toast apart with his teeth, ripping it in half. Sora remains where he is but his shoulders move up and down in a halfhearted shrug. "I don't know, Dante." He says softly, his voice muffled slightly since his face was mushed up against the table. Sora wraps his arms around his stomach and begins to slowly rock himself, though it was almost imperceptible.

Haru and Riku continue to eat their way through the giant pile of pancakes on the platter in the middle of the table.

"You sure, Sora? I mean, I bet you guys have a lot of work to do." Dante comments, nodding solemnly to himself, obviously remembering his own high school days. Sora shakes his head and shrugs again, continuing to rock himself. "I don't know." He repeats in a low voice, almost sounding as if he was growling at the older cop.

Riku and Dante exchange glances, each one startled. They had never heard Sora speak like that. Haru immediately scoots his chair away from the kid, obviously surprised himself. The Takamura brothers watch him warily like he was some sort of animal that may or may not attack in the next few seconds. A harsh guttural noise comes from Sora and he sits up. The boys watch as the tears stream down his cheeks and he trembles violently for a moment before slamming his head down on the table.

The three guys stare in shock when Sora lifts his head again and slams it even harder into the table, making the glasses and jug of orange juice rattle. One glass tumbles over, crashing to the floor and shattering. As if the noise suddenly snapped him back to attention, Dante jumps up and grabs Sora by the shoulders, yanking him backwards, preventing him from hurting himself further. Sora's face was bright red and he continued to cry helplessly, whimpering his sister's and brother's names over and over, sounding as if he was choking on them.

Riku can only watch and listen as Sora whispers hoarsely: "It's my fault, it's all my fault, Roxas... Xion... I killed you... I'm sorry... It's all my fault... I should be the one who's dead, not you... I'm so sorry..." The boy coughs violently, his entire body trembling sporadically as blood suddenly coats his lips. The crimson mixes with his tears, turning the liquid a pale rose.

"Okay, Haru, Riku, you guys get the fuck to school now! Me and Sora are gonna have a little talk. … Riku, bring Kairi here when school's over." Dante orders rapidly as he wraps his arms around Sora's middle and picks him up, throwing him over his shoulder as if the sixteen year old was a sack of potatoes. Sora begins to struggle violently as Riku shoves Haru towards the front door. The two boys immediately do as their big brother says, instinctively knowing that Dante somehow knew what he was doing.

Sora's desperate wails follow them down the street as they run towards the street-corner. They both stop at their bus-stop, each boy trembling violently at what they had just seen. Riku could barely breathe from both the run and from Sora's bizarre grief... He shivers uncontrollably, gasping for breath. He was scared. He was so damn scared. Sora was going insane wasn't he? No, that couldn't be it. Sora was going to be okay. He had to. Sora couldn't go insane. He couldn't. He hugs himself tightly, trying to get a rein on his emotions. He was _**scared**_...

"Riku... you're still in your pajamas." Haru says softly, nudging his older brother in emphasis. Riku glances down and notices the bright blue flannel pajama bottoms that he had thrown on last night before Dante had left to go get Sora. He shivers in his sleeveless muscle shirt. He had been so freaked out that he had left the house without even changing into his school uniform. In fact, he was barefoot.

He sighs and turns back to the house. He immediately shivers. He didn't want to go back in there. Riku forces himself to start walking towards the small white cottage. He could face a hardened criminal with a gun or a knife, he could face rotting corpses, but he was scared of a _**sixteen year old**_. A _**mourning**_ sixteen year old. Riku shakes his head. It was just Sora. Sora wasn't going to hurt him. In fact, Sora was most likely going to hurt _**himself**_. That was why Dante wanted him at home. His shaking immediately stops and he nods to himself. Yeah, Sora was just grieving, that's all. He had just lost two members of his family. That was no reason to be scared of him.

Riku slips in through the open front door, pausing at the kitchen door for a moment. He could hear Sora crying. Sora was crying inconsolably and he could hear his brother talking to him in a soft voice. Riku risks a peek and watches as Dante slowly pets Sora on the head, murmuring to him: "It's not your fault, Sora... you didn't know what would happen." "It's my fault. I told them it was okay to go," Sora answers in a low voice, crying even harder. "I told them that I would cover for them in Mister Highwind's class. ... It's my fault they're dead." "No, no... You didn't know... It's okay, Sora... it'll be okay." Dante repeats softly, pulling the younger boy into his arms like he had to Riku last night. Sora continues to cry.

Feeling as if he had suddenly barged in on something very private, Riku sneaks past the door and quickly enters his own room, his mind spinning. Well, that explained Sora's behavior. He thought that he was responsible for the deaths of his siblings. As Riku yanks his uniform on, he pauses before looking into the back of his closet. He quickly zips up his blue plaid pants and reaches automatically for the long black cloak dangling haphazardly from a hanger.

Without thinking about it, he pulls on the black cloak that was distinctive of the Organization XIII members and leaves the house.

* * *

><p>As she drops to the ground, clenching her trembling arm, Larxene knew she was in trouble. The black-cloaked figure before her chuckles softly as he walks forward, his black boots scuffing the ground lazily. As if he really didn't care how long it took him to reach her. She hisses like an angered cat and spits at the approaching masked teenager, furious. How the hell had he managed to do that? What were those knives?<p>

She could only watch as he removes another one of the strange glass daggers from a pouch on his hip and steps even closer.

* * *

><p><strong>Dum dum dum, Cliff HANGER, hanging from a cliff!<strong>

**And that's why they...**

**Okay, maybe I'm the only one who ever watched "Between the Lions".**

**But anyway, consider that last bit a preview of what will happen next chapter!**

**P****lease read and review folks!**


	4. Chapter 4: Lightning Strike

**Hmm... I didn't like the last chapter.**

**I don't think it flowed right.**

**Disclaimers: Kingdom Hearts is not mine and neither is Final Fantasy or Disney.**

**Alright, enough of Sora's emotional breakdown, we're going back to the mystery!**

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><p><strong>Hikari Household: Eight Thirty-Two AM<strong>

As Riku knocks on the door of the small house, Haru lingering at his side nervously, he waits patiently for his old friend, the only one who could help him right now. "Just a minute! Nami, you have to be good now, okay? Please, for me? Daddy'll take care of you, I promise nothing bad will happen to you. I promise." Kairi Hikaru's voice says. Riku immediately smiles at hearing the soothing voice, instantly feeling better like he always did. "I don't... Yes, Naminé, I promise to be careful. … yes, that probably is Riku at the door. Hey, maybe he brought Haru today! You wanted to talk to him, didn't you?" Kairi continues to say to her younger sister. Riku grimaces; from the way that Kairi was babying her younger twin, Naminé had had a relapse.

"Kairi, come on! We've got to head to school sometime this week you know!" Haru demands angrily, rapping his own knuckles against the wooden door impatiently. "I said just a minute!" Kairi snaps and a sudden slamming motion rocks the door, forcing Haru away from it. Riku grins in amusement; Kairi had come a long way from being the helpless little princess that she had been when she was a child. Haru mutters something irritably to himself, scowling at the door.

A few moments later, the door opens up a crack and a teenage girl waves at them, motioning them inside. "Well, you guys can come in. I think she'll be okay now." Kairi says calmly, tucking a wayward lock of auburn hair back behind her ear. She smiles brightly at Riku and Haru as they walk in. Riku could hear faint sobbing and Mister Hikaru's voice saying something incoherently in the distance.

"Nice kick there, Kairi. Been takin' lessons from Riku again?" Haru comments sarcastically, giving the older girl a glare. She only chuckled and nodded. "So you've noticed." She chuckles, shaking her head sheepishly. Kairi smiles again at Riku before turning around and shouting to her father: "Dad, I'm going to school now! Take care of Naminé for me!"

At the mention of her name, Kairi's younger sister walks into the hallway. Riku flinches at the sight of the girl as he always did; he could never really forget a certain image he had of her, an image of utter helplessness and of fear. It always made him slightly wary of her... she reminded him too much of bad memories. The younger girl smiles vaguely at him before bowing her head, her pale blond hair disguising her face further. "Did you guys... come to play with Kairi?" She asks in a soft but high-pitched voice that made her sound about ten years younger than she really was. Naminé quivers and clenches her arms tightly around herself, driving her long fingernails into her skin.

Haru, her friend and closest companion (beside her own family, of course), chuckles.

"We're going to school, silly. You comin'? You're still in your jammies!" He says in an abnormally bright voice for the usually sullen boy. He walks forward and gently pulls Naminé's hands away from her arms, tucking them neatly onto her hips. She blinks and shakes her head, tugging her short white nightgown down her legs as if worried about the length.

"Daddy and Kairi said I can't go. I have to stay home," She murmurs mournfully, shaking her head slowly. Tears begin dripping down her cheeks as she asks softly: "Can you ask Roxas and Xion to come see me later? Axel was here and he said he wants to talk to them. He was sad. He was crying," Naminé says blankly, looking very confused. "Why is he crying? I don't understand... why is Axel crying?" She begins to cry harder but didn't seem to notice that she was doing it. She wobbles to a chair lying on its side in the hallway and sits down on it. She begins to tremble even harder and began to rasp softly to herself. Whatever she was saying was pure nonsense, nothing but harsh hissing and vicious growls. Almost unconsciously, Naminé began to clench at herself again. This time, blood began to trickle down her arms from how deep her nails had been driven into her flesh.

"Kairi, Riku, Haru, please go to school now. I'll take it from here." Mister Hikaru says calmly as he puts his hands on Naminé's shoulders. Riku blinks in surprise and looks up, startled by the sudden appearance of the Hikaru patriarch. Haru gives him a suspicious glare before relinquishing his spot beside Naminé to him. As their adoptive father and their loving guardian, he was more than qualified to take care of the girl. Riku nods and bows respectfully to the mayor of their small town, praying silently that Naminé would feel better soon.

"See you later, Daddy. Nami, you be good for him, okay?" Kairi asks softly as she pulls on her dark brown school loafers and walks out the door, black book bag in hand. The two boys murmur similar words to the now silent blond girl before running out after Kairi. Riku places his hand on her shoulder when she begins to cry. "I thought she was better. And now Sora's worse, too." She says softly, closing her eyes and allowing herself to be pulled into Riku's side.

"I know, Kai. I know." He says soothingly, patting her shoulder gently. She sniffles for a moment before smiling vaguely, looking like a mirror-image of her sister; it gave Riku shivers just to think of his cheerful best friend in that state. Kairi, who wasn't someone to let her sadness show for very long, quickly smiles and pulls away from Riku. She sniffles for a moment before adjusting her white buttondown, looking up towards the sky. "It's really bright today..." She says idly, more to make conversation than a real comment on the weather. Riku mumbles an agreement before asking softly: "Kairi... where did you hear about Black Box XIII?"

Kairi freezes and stares at him, startled. It takes her several moments before she can answer. "... Axel came over. He said we had to watch something. He showed it to Sora before he came. … Was that... real?" She asks softly, her eyes darkening with the pain she hid. He nods. "Yeah. I cleaned up the scene a few hours later. … They really are dead, Kairi." Riku says quietly, trying to be calm and nonchalant about it. His voice however, cracks horribly, betraying his true emotions. Kairi gently pats his shoulder.

"Hey, enough of the sob fest. Let's get our asses to school." Haru says irritably, no doubt unhinged by the brief visit with Naminé. Riku couldn't help but rolls his eyes at that; his younger brother had always been protective of Naminé and this feeling had only been reinforced by... No, Riku would _**not**_ think about that time. He clenches his hand into a fist, shaking his head.

"You're right. Let's go to school." He says in a gruff voice, pulling Kairi and Haru along by their wrists, refusing to let go of them as he walked along. As he walked, without realizing it, Riku begins to hum a bizarrely familiar soft, lullaby-like song.

* * *

><p><strong>Destiny Island High School: Nine Forty-Five AM<strong>

Riku sits idly in his first class, Worlds History, and he stares at the front of the room in boredom. All around him, his classmates were whispering in low, excited voices while their teacher, Mister Leonhart, wrote on the blackboard. He kept pausing and glancing over his shoulder at the restless students. The scarred teacher's icy look would shut all the talkers up for a few minutes until he turned back around. Then the talk would resume.

All the gossip was the same: "Did you see the video?" "No way is that Black Box XIII junk real, you know. Must be CGI." "What kinda fucking psycho kills someone and posts it on the _**internet**_?" They were all talking about Black Box XIII and the video of Roxas's and Xion's murders. The police department, according to a text that Dante sent him a few minutes after he had reached school, had forced *Hidden, the only member of the site with any real power over it, to pull the video from the site and block any more communication from the one who had posted it.

Riku shook his head in disgust, rereading the text under his desk. Predictably, Dante had gone on to say that despite their removal of the video, hundreds more people had gone on to watch it. He knew exactly why, too: If someone, especially someone in authority, made something forbidden or censored it, more and more people would be tempted to watch it. Especially teenagers.

"I heard it was cause they pissed off some major government official. Knew something that they shouldn't have." One girl in his class says in a conspiratorial voice to her friends. Riku glances over at the girl and shakes his head. Selphie _**would**_ be the one to think that it was because of the government. At the younger girl's words, nearly every pair of eyes in the classroom turned to the pair of empty desks at the very front of the room besides Mister Leonhart's desk. Riku's however, turns to the empty desk on his right side. He looks at Kairi, who was sitting on his left side, and she was gently patting the empty desk in front of hers. Haru was glaring at the same two desks, no doubt wondering what the hell both Sora and Naminé were up to. All three of them were worried.

"Alright, turn it down to a dull roar," Mister Leonhart says suddenly, turning around. He puts down the piece of chalk he had been writing with and looks sternly at his class. They all quiet down immediately, staring at him in anticipation. He coughs and then shakes his head. He motions towards the two empty desks in front of him. "As you can see, two of our classmates have left the class for good. Roxas and Xion have been..." He stops for a moment, attempting to figure out what exactly to say without getting in trouble from the school-board, no doubt.

Selphie raises her hand and without letting the teacher call on her, says: "They were murdered, weren't they, sir? I think nearly everyone in the class saw it." Everyone nods in agreement; Riku notes that more than a few people were shivering, no doubt remembering the horrific details of the gruesome video.

Mister Leonhart coughs and nods. "Right now, the Destiny Island Police Department is trying to figure out if the video is a hoax or not and whether or not Xion and Roxas have been... murdered. As of now, nothing's been given to us, meaning there may still be hope for them," He says calmly, shaking his head slowly. Although his words were meant to be encouraging, nearly everyone's eyes flicker towards Riku, Haru, and Kairi. Riku ignores the looks and simply adjusts his black jacket, pulling the hood up on his head, hiding himself from view. Mister Leonheart wasn't fooling anyone; they all knew they were dead.

"So on that happy note, let's go back to learning about the Keyblade Wars in the Keyblade Graveyard. Now, Tidus, what was the cause of the first war and how did the Wielders begin to fight?" Mister Leonhart asks, making the sleeping boy flinch and stare at him in confusion. As Tidus began to stumble over the answers, Riku glances around the room, bored out of his mind.

Kairi, like the good students she was, begins to scribble down detailed notes in a small notebook. Haru was fast asleep, not even bothering to pay attention to the lecture. Riku sighs, shaking his head, his mind preoccupied with other matters. He shivers, remembering the stench of the crime scene. He could almost feel the smoke trickling down his throat, suffocating him. He loosens his collar and unzips his jacket a few centimeters. Riku had to remember as many details as he could about the video; although Dante and the Commander were probably doing the exact same thing, he wanted his own version of reliable notes. He begins to scribble down the time of day, the methods used by the perpetrator, and the victims' names when something black suddenly flashed in the corner of his eye. It looked like... a person.

He blinks in surprise before looking up; he was right next to the window and they were on the fourth floor of the Oathkeeper Building, where all the History and Elective Classes were held. There was no way he could see someone in black up here. He looks out the window and his blood seems to turn to ice in his veins. He stands up, shaking violently.

The loud scraping noise that his chair made makes everyone in the room to look up at him, startled. Mister Leonhart closes his textbook. "Takamura, sit down." He says calmly though he looked very surprised. "Call an ambulance." Riku retorts, his gaze fixated on what he was watching. He begins to move slowly towards the emergency fire exit, his limbs feeling as if they were filled with lead. _'You can't move right but you have to move now!'_, his mind screamed at him. "What the hell are you talking about?" Mister Leonhart asks in confusion, beginning to walk towards the frozen teenager. At this point, Riku snapped, his mind finally overcoming his body's fear. "If you're smart, _**sir**_, you'll call a motherfucking ambulance!" He snarls angrily, already beginning to move.

In an instant, Riku was next to the emergency fire exit and he slams the window upwards, shattering it in hundreds of tiny pieces. The entire class jumps in surprise as he slips through the door. He had to hurry. Riku, with a speed that even he didn't know that he possessed, scampers down the rusted old fire escape, both running and rapidly climbing his way down. The instant that he was on the ground, he took off at a full-out run towards the Oblivion Gymnasium, which was normally abandoned at this early time of day.

Riku kept watching as the two small figures in black fought viciously on the roof of the much smaller building. One of them, a girl about his age, was shaking violently but she continued to fight. But the other kid, the one covered up completely in his black cloak, was easily overpowering the weakened teenager. He could only watch as the figure removes what looked like two six inch knives from a pouch on his hip. The bizarre knives almost seemed to... spark in the sunlight and he watches as the kid scrapes them together and what looked like a blue light arches between the points of the two knives.

Electricity. He was carrying _**electric**_ knives.

The girl screams something – at Riku or at the figure, he couldn't tell – and the hidden teenager laughs mechanically. In a matter of seconds, he had the older girl cornered on the edge of the roof. Riku continues to run.

The teenager laughs again and gently curls his left hand in a slow deliberate wave. He stabs the metal knives into the girl's chest and she began to spasm uncontrollably. The girl screams as she loses her balance and tumbles over the edge of the building. The girl hits the edge of a roof-like structure just above the first floor and her screams suddenly die off. She bounces off of the canopy and slams into the ground, remaining still.

Riku runs faster; he knew that the human body could survive falling from about two stories (which was the height of the gym) but the same fall could rupture internal organs. He couldn't tell how she had landed but her fall had been stopped when she smacked into the canopy. Which meant there was a bigger chance that she had landed on her back, meaning that her spine could have shattered. He skids besides the girl and places his middle and index fingers on the side of her throat.

He feels a very faint throbbing beneath his fingers and he lets out a soft sigh of relief. The girl was still alive but was bleeding very badly from dozens of small cuts all over her face and torso. He pulls off her black jacket and had begun tearing it into makeshift bandages before he took a real good look at it. His body goes cold as he stares at the Organization XIII jacket in his hands. He looks at the girl's face and he drops the jacket.

Larxene Obinata coughs violently, her bloody hand clasping Riku's arm tightly. Her dark blue eyes remain staring upward, up at the sky. Her lips are coated in the same crimson fluid that covered her torso. Her eyes flutter sporadically and her breathing was shallow. Riku clenches her hand in his, immediately understanding. She was going into shock from the knives. If he was right... the knives that the kid was using were somehow conducting a current and from the blackened marks all over Larxene's visible skin, it was one hell of a strong one. She had been cut and _**electrocuted**_ at the same time.

"Don't worry, we're going to get you to a hospital, Larxene. You're going to be okay," Riku hears himself saying. He barely knew this girl and yet he was comforting her. In fact, he only knew her from Castle Oblivion... Larxene looks at him in confusion and her eyes were moving quickly, as if she was trying to see who was talking. She squints and she coughs again, spraying a new layer of blood on her lips. "R... R... Riku... Is that... ?" She asks softly before coughing again. Her eyes close and she suddenly starts shaking violently. Her breathing becomes much louder, as if she was struggling to fill her lungs with air. Riku grabs her and pins her to the ground as she continues to have her seizure. "Larxene! Come on, don't close your eyes!" He yells but she couldn't hear him and she continued to spasm.

Riku hears a nearly inaudible sound behind him and then the scraping of metal against leather. Before he could even move, the cloaked figure wraps his chain around Riku's throat, dragging him away from the convulsing girl. Riku screams and scrambles violently at the metal links but the figure was stronger; he drags Riku to the wall of the building and pins him there, tying him up with the thick chain. He then turns back and stoops beside Larxene , placing the tip of the metal dagger just above the middle of her chest. He then squeezes the knife's handle and a spark of blue electricity arches straight into Larxene's heart.

Larxene lets out a wild howl of pain and begins to spasm even faster, her entire body convulsing violently. Riku could only watch as she suddenly stops moving, her chest smoking slightly. From the look of it, Larxene had gone through cardiac arrest, had an heart attack and died. He could feel the bile rising in his throat as the figure chuckles softly. He moves the dagger up to Larxene's throat and stabs it right through, sending a fresh wave of blood dribbling down the corpse's neck. He lets out a maniac laugh before turning back to Riku.

When the figure lifts his head up, he cocks his own head to the side, as if studying the boy. Riku trembles violently, seeing red. He had just seen a girl murdered in front of him. This was the person who had killed Xion and Roxas. This was the person who made Sora and Naminé so damn miserable and had sent them spiraling back into depression and misery. This was the fucker who destroyed his friends. And for the first time in his life, Riku understood why people killed each other.

The cloaked figure remains silent, looking at him from beneath a porcelain mask. Riku notes that it was shaped in the exact mold of the boy's face and that there was a pair of small nicks just beneath where his eyes should have been. Instead, a shield of colored plastic protected him from Riku's eyes and from him learning of his identity. He chuckles softly before reaching for his hip pouch again.

The figure slowly undoes the clasp of the pouch, unhooking it from his pant-leg. Riku begins to breathe more slowly, ready to roll out of the way the moment that he yanked a knife out of it.

What he did next surprised Riku.

The figure quietly drops the black pouch on the ground, spilling several clear and a single metal dagger to the ground. The clear knives let out a pleasant chiming noise as they scraped against each other. He glances towards Riku and grabs his bound hands, loosening the chain. The chain retracts back onto the boy's sleeve and Riku drops to the ground, getting a mouthful of grit. As he scrambles to get up, the figure presses one of the clear daggers into his hand and let out a soft low laugh that cut off suddenly.

Riku gets up as quickly as he could and sees Larxene's corpse was the only thing in sight. His sprint to try and save her and the short fight between him and the figure had only taken a few minutes. And in those few minutes, the kid had managed to disappear without a trace.

He glances down at the glass knife in his right hand. ... Then again, the kid had left _**one**_ little clue behind.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, I feel like a psycho.<strong>

**Either way, next chapter is the video of Larxene's death (more detail for you guys!) and the mystery shall continue...**

**Just for some fun: why do you guys think that the Mysterious Figure, as I have now dubbed him, spared Riku?**

**Why do you think he's going after the Organization?**

**I love conspiracies so if you liked this, why not leave a review for me?**

**See you next time!**


	5. Chapter 5: Grieving

**Alright, it's been a while and I don't know who's reading anymore.**

**Whoever's left, hiya. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimers: Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, and all the rest are not mine. The rest, they're mine. OC's are mine.**

**Remember, the authors like it if you read AND review. So... enjoy the garbled ramblings of my brain! **

**-Forbidden **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Five: Grieving<strong>

Riku paused in the middle of the room, his dark green eyes narrowing suspiciously at what looked like an altar. Despite what he thought of the dank place, he never figured it was a religious place. Made out of a bizarre white stone, the small stone structure seemed to gleam faintly in the dim room, despite how little sunlight was coming in through the room's cracked window. He stopped down, his curiosity and thirst for answers getting the best of him and they overwhelmed his need to continue. He ran an intrepid finger along the surface of the flat stone slab; when he received a strangely familiar tingling sensation in his hand for his troubles, he wondered where he had seen it before.

Sora, his companion through the Castle, looked over at him when he noticed that his friend wasn't following him through the door. "Um, Riku? You okay?" He asked softly, a mild look of confusion and of curiosity appearing on his face.

Riku nodded as he continued to examine the stone. "Uh huh," He said calmly as he pulled out a small notebook and read a few sentences in it. According to what he had written down before they entered the Castle, this place was once known as the Land of Departure and had been built of very expensive materials by a very wealthy ex-warrior. Hence the slab he was looking at. But there was something else about it he found a lot more interesting...

Sora wandered over lazily and he crouched down beside his friend, obviously humoring him despite the urgent looks he kept giving the door. "So... what's so special about the rock?" He asked softly and he sighed irritably, nudging Riku with an overstimulated elbow. He had had way too much coffee (or hot chocolate) when they left the station, apparently.

Riku flashed his friend an eager look before beginning his observations: "This looks like Twilight Stone. It's supposed to hold the element of 'twilight' in it, according to legend. No one really knows what it means. … But more importantly... look at this dust." He ran a finger through the inch thick layer of grime on the otherwise pristine stone. He held it up with an amused grin on his face. "Uh... So... what's that mean?" Sora asked next and he looked even more confused. As Riku was about to answer his question, he suddenly stopped and looked up.

"It means you punks are trespassing." A deep voice said calmly and the two boys immediately jumped up, startled. Riku stared at the two people that had somehow walked in without their knowledge and glared at them angrily There was something... eerily familiar about these two and he didn't like it. He put a hand to his belt, where he kept a small black revolver that Dante had given him just before he entered the castle. The two cloaked figures chuckle softly when he made the gesture, as if amused that he brought a firearm here.

"And who the heck are you guys? And why are you dressed like that?" Sora asked in confusion and he kept staring at them, scratching his head. For once, Sora was right to be confused. Despite the heat of the island, the intruders were both dressed in bizarrely long black jackets, ones that reached all the way to their ankles. On top of that, they wore black gloves and what looked like thigh-length black boots. They both had their hoods up and said hoods hid their faces in shadows. The smaller one chuckles.

"So... these two are the wannabe heroes of Destiny Island Town, huh? Riku Takamura and Sora Minami. How lame, I thought they'd be... you know, more heroic, VIII." The figure said in amusement, completely ignoring Sora's question. "Hey... how do you know our names?" Sora demanded, scowling in irritation. One of Sora's pet peeves was when he was ignored and denied information. The figure chuckled as it delicately removed her hood, revealing a girl not much older than they were but from the savage grin she wore, one that was definitely much more vicious. She smirked sadistically as her sleeve slid up her arm, revealing a trio of small knives in her hands. The figure beside her murmured a few soft words and she turned around in annoyance, glaring at him. "What?" She demanded, flicking a strand of golden-yellow hair back behind her ear.

"Don't hurt them, XII. You know who they are. … And why we need them." He said softly and Riku watched as he nodded towards the now trembling Sora who was staring at him in horror. He glanced over at his friend in confusion, startled by the sick look on his face. Sora looked like he was about to pass out and he clutched at his head, a low whimpering noise emerging from his lips. The girl scoffed, laughing for a moment before returning to her vicious serenity. She snapped her fingers loudly, making Sora flinch. "I'm not going to break the toy, Axel — just play with it. I'm not dumb." She retorted coolly to her partner as she turned her attention back to the two boys. She smirks as Sora slowly straightened up but he continued to wince in pain.

"You're part of the Organization." Riku and Sora snarled in unison and Riku was about to step forward when Sora suddenly continued. "What did you do to her?" He demanded, a feverish look of need appearing in his eyes. Riku stared at him in shock; he had never seen that expression on Sora's face before. He glared at the young woman. Just what had she done?

"Ooh, aren't you clever. The name's Larxene. Are you enjoying your stay in Castle Oblivion?" "XII" snickered in amusement. She straightened her jacket before turning back to the hidden man, the one named Axel. "You can go now, VIII... I'll be the one to finish them off." She said calmly and she clashed her knives together in emphasis. The older man shook his head. "Get that one out of here. He's not for you." Axel murmured calmly, motioning vaguely towards Riku. The girl nods. "At least I can get some fun out of this, right? It's not like he won't heal up." Larxene asked curiously and after a moment, Axel nodded in reluctant agreement.

"Who the hell are you guys?" Riku demanded coldly and the girl laughed softly. "What's it to you, Riku? It's not like this is your story after all." She said tauntingly, smirking in amusement. She snapped her fingers loudly once more and Sora screamed, falling to the ground, clutching his head. "Sora!" He began to shout when Sora was suddenly covered in what looked like black mist. The fourteen year old vanished right before his eyes. Riku began to run towards the spot where Sora had been when he stopped short, howling in pain.

"End of the line, wannabe hero." Larxene murmured in amusement as a hot wave of blood trickled out of Riku's flesh from the puncture wounds in his back. He had been stabbed in the back by the girl and now he could feel every vein in his body throbbing as they released what was keeping him alive. He could only look at the girl for a moment before he crumpled to his knees before her, the thick crimson liquid trickling down his body and onto the white tile floor. He heard high-pitched laughter as Larxene's footsteps echoed almost too loudly in his ears; when the heel of her boot nudged the side of his face, he closed his eyes, his body slackening limply.

It would be the last thing he remembered in a very long time.

* * *

><p>Despite the long drive, or maybe because of it, Riku keeps his eyes closed. After what he had been through at school, sleep seemed to be the best option. However, he couldn't sleep. So instead, he keeps his full attention on the small glass knife in his hands. He trails a finger down its short blade over and over, feeling the almost imperceptible imperfections in the glossy glass. It was only a few inches long, not even quite six inches he guessed. But despite its size, someone had been killed with this, or rather one just like it. Someone he had known. Someone he had wanted to kill himself at one point in time.<p>

_'So, you two are the wannabe heroes!'_

Larxene Obinata's voice seems to echo in his mind as he remembers meeting the girl for the first time. He had nearly been killed by that particular meeting. Sora, in desperation to find his siblings and later on, Naminé, had also been brutally hurt. Going through Castle Oblivion had been hell for both of them, particularly for Sora in having to relive his memories as if they never existed. But they had both managed to survive their injuries and the ones they would later sustain at the hands of the other members in Castle Oblivion.

Riku re-wraps the blade in a handkerchief and puts it back on the dashboard. Dante looks over at him for a moment but refocuses on the road. It was obvious that his brother didn't want to have another accident... or a ticket. Riku decides to just stare out the window now and focus his own thoughts on solving the case. Now, Roxas and Xion and now Larxene were all dead. There had to be a connection between the three of them...

He sighs softly, shaking his head. No. The only connection between the three was Organization XIII. So the members of the group were in danger. Riku grimaces; he and the Organization had their history together, particularly between him, Roxas, Xion and their leader. Despite having fought against him numerous times to get the Minami siblings, he had never exactly known the man's real name. He knew him only by "Xemnas" and by "The Superior." He couldn't even remember what Roxas' and Xion's real names had been since the Superior had legally changed them long before. For convenience, they said. They had kept the names as a dark reminder of their former full membership.

Riku absentmindedly removes the bundle containing the glass knife from the dashboard once more, fiddling with the black cloth that covered it idly as his mind raced. If the Organization was in danger, maybe they could get answers from their relatives. That is, if they could find them. When Larxene had been zipped up into a body bag and when her possessions were removed, bagged and labeled, he had found an ID card that said where she lived in the suburbs of Traverse Town, which was where they were headed now. Riku couldn't help but grin when Dante curses violently at the cobblestone road ("You stupid piece of-! If you fuck up my car, I'll pave your ass over with cement!") and he closes his eyes, the exhaustion finally catching up to him. Within minutes, Riku's breathing slows, his consciousness disappearing into a strange but familiar darkness. In his hand, he clutches the glass dagger.

* * *

><p><strong>Elsewhere, Somewhere on Destiny Islands<strong>

The figure smiles coldly beneath the blank porcelain mask even as the molten stream of metal begins to cool and harden beneath his gloved fingertips and inside of the pool of ice water. It was being tempered too quickly but this batch didn't exactly matter. All that mattered was that they could fire what he needed them to fire and that was all that was important. It was only a practice group anyway. He glances over at the sealed plastic container on his desk, sitting innocently amidst the cluttered pile of scrap paper and pencil shavings. His junk lay across the room, where none of it could contaminate his weapons and give him away. He wasn't sure why he planned it out so carefully. It feels like someone had told him to do so but he couldn't remember why. Dimly, he recognizes the need to clean up his workshop but his full attention was on the slab of steel before him.

Being careful not to spill the tub's contents onto the tile floor, he gently moves the fifty gallon plastic container an inch or two closer to the metalworking part of the workshop. He wanted this done fast for some reason, but he couldn't really think of why. Moving quickly, he yanks out the hunk of cooled steel with the large tongs he held in his other hand and puts the metal into the flattened part of the anvil. Twirling his hammer, a particularly light-weight one that reminded him heavily of old-fashioned blacksmiths' rectangular hammers, he slams the head of the three pound hammer into the steel.

He could already see the knife he needed to make in his mind... sharp... pointed... long... thing... He shivers and he forces himself to pause; the tiny – almost invisible – circular scars on his wrists and forearms suddenly begin to ache, as if the skin itself was remembering something. He glances down at the neat blueprints that had been drawn up in use for his latest creation. He lets out a soft chuckle as the tear drips down his face, splashing against the surface of the water in his tub of water. Yeah... These would look exactly like the object he was imagining.

The figure continues to work.

* * *

><p>Despite what anyone thought, going to talk to soon-to-be grieving parents was not fun.<p>

Riku couldn't stop fidgeting, his nervous movements ranging from constantly re-wrapping the knife in its black handkerchief to shuffling his feet against the cobblestone street. He couldn't help it; it was the first time that he ever had to talk to someone's... a victim's family. This was the first time that he ever had to tell someone that their child was dead. That they wouldn't be coming home to them. Looking up the street, he notices a sign saying that they were in the First District, one that looked overly familiar.

Dante chuckles sheepishly when his younger brother gives him a nasty scowl. Apparently, his sense of direction wasn't exactly up to par when it came to shifting to another town and out of his jurisdiction. After looking around for a few minutes and standing at the corner, they debate quietly but fiercely about asking for directions from a local.

"So help me, Dante, if you don't ask for directions, I will." Riku snaps in annoyance, wanting to get his task over with as soon as possible. His brother gives him a cold look before pulling out a folded bit of paper. He opens it up, squints at it and then looks up at the street-corner sign before trooping off in a random direction, motioning his little brother to follow him. Riku sighs irritably but quickly picks up the pace, rapidly catching up to his older brother, grabbing him by the back of his jacket. Riku quickly outpaces his brother, running on ahead as he expertly makes his way through the cobblestoned streets. Dante chuckles at the childish gesture but says nothing, only mumbling out the street names to himself as he walks.

Real men don't like to ask for directions, or so his thinking went.

As they walk, Dante's hand manages to find itself around Riku's shoulder. Startled by the sudden gesture, the younger boy freezes for a moment before allowing the contact. "Hurry up, Danny. I'd like to get there before the vic gets cold." He says bluntly, pulling along his brother quickly. He sighs softly as Dante shrugs, obviously not knowing where he was going.

Another voice chuckles, freezing the brothers in their tracks. "Well, if you knew where the mechanic shop was, maybe you'd get there." Axel Blaze says in solemn amusement, folding his arms against his chest as he grins at them. The Takamuras stare at him, startled that he had just appeared out of nowhere.

"What the... hell are you doing here?" Dante asks softly, staring at him in utter confusion. Axel grins slightly, his dark green eyes sparkling with hidden humor. He shrugs lazily, his thin shoulders bobbing as he looks up toward the sky. Riku follows his gaze, silently understanding the meaning. The once blue sky was beginning to turn a nasty slate color, obviously signaling the beginning of rain. "Paying my respects." Axel says softly, motioning down his torso in emphasis.

The brothers look and for the first time, they notice the black clothes and the white lilies in Axel's hands. They look back up at him and the humor is now gone from his expression. Without another word, the Flurry of the Dancing Flames crooks a finger at them, walking on ahead in the darkening streets. The brothers quickly follow.

Larxene's guardian is quickly obvious. Riku finds him in a corner of the machine shop, sitting on a couch, his hands covering his face as he sobs. Demyx, another member of the Organization, sits beside him, gently strumming the obnoxiously painted blue instrument that he called a sitar. The soft lullaby-like tune he plays is obviously made to be soothing and the sweet notes dance in the air delicately, relaxing anyone who was listening.

Larxene's guardian stays silent, his grief deafening him to the sitar's melody. As the brothers and Axel approach, he grabs at his blonde hair, tearing at it violently. Strands of gold hair fly into the air as he lets out an anguished scream, slamming his hands into his face in fury. Startled, Riku jumps back as he continues to sob, a wordless howl of grief escaping his lips. Dante begins to reach for him but Axel quickly grabs his wrist, shaking his head no. From the solemn look on his face, it was clear that he thought it would be a very *_**bad**_* idea if anyone touched him. Small blue tendrils of electricity spark around the man, as if in emphasis.

Axel and Demyx glance at each other before they both give each other a slight smile. The sandy-blonde musician goes back to playing, singing softly to himself in a high tenor, his fingers flying along the strings rapidly. The man glances up and Riku sees for the first time that his eyes were bloodshot from the tears. He clears his throat awkwardly before looking at Axel. "Your friends?" He rasps out in a hoarse voice, nodding toward Dante and Riku. Axel shakes his head. "No. Cops. They're here about our girl, Raiden." Axel says soothingly, walking over to the man and clapping his hand onto his shoulder. Even when an arch of electricity sparks over his hand, Axel doesn't move, only smiles soothingly at him.

Raiden says nothing, only looks over at Demyx. At his irritated look, Demyx immediately stops playing, instead laying his sitar in his lap. "What can I do for you then?" Raiden says gruffly, rubbing at his eyes in anger. The man's body trembles as he begins to stand up. Axel quickly pushes him back onto the couch, instead getting up and leaving to another part of the room. Riku watches as the older man begins to pull mugs out of a small wooden cabinet hung up on the wall. It looked like he was going to make tea.

Dante clears his throat. "Sir, I'd like to ask you a few questions about your..." He trails off, obviously unsure how to classify Larxene. Raiden's green eyes flicker to Dante's face and he smiles bitterly. "Sister." He says softly, his hands clenching at his legs. Dante nods, continuing. "I'd like to ask you a few questions about your sister. Do you know if she was having any trouble? Like, maybe at school?" He asks as he takes a seat beside Raiden, obviously being very polite. The blonde's eyes flicker with brief amusement as he shakes his head, a wry smile appearing on his face.

Riku mumbles to himself, unknowingly being loud enough for everyone to hear him. "*Causing* trouble maybe." Raiden chuckles softly, amused. He lifts his head for the first and looks at Riku, observing him quietly. For a few minutes, those solemn green eyes pore into him, looking at him as if he could see into his very soul. They were so unlike Larxene's savage glance that he is startled, frozen into place by their mere force. Finally, the spell is ended when Raiden gives him a warm smile.

"I like you, kid," He says softly, nudging at a couch cushion in front of him, obviously telling Riku to sit down. Riku sits down, crossing his legs over themselves neatly, getting comfortable. "You know my sister." Raiden demands calmly, obviously knowing that he did. Riku nods and makes a slicing motion across his chest. "Only too well, I'm afraid. Your sister fought like a demon, as the scars on me and my friend Sora will testify." He jokes solemnly, making the grieving brother laugh in appreciation. He nods, smirking. "That's my girl. Refused to take shit from anyone." He says softly, a proud look appearing on his face. It's obvious how much he loved his little sister from how wide his smile was.

Dante sighs, leaning against Demyx in mild depression. He waves his hand to his younger brother, giving him permission to continue the questioning. Riku clears his throat. "Well, we both know that Larxene didn't have problems at school. So what about on the streets? Anyone we should know about?" Riku asks informally, instinctively feeling like this was the best way to get information from Raiden Obinata. Raiden looks over at Axel and Demyx, pointing at their black cloaks in emphasis. Riku smiles a little. "We know all about the Organization. Hell, I've fought against these knuckleheads." The teenage says in amusement, glancing over at Axel. He then makes a gesture as if saying that the redhead wasn't so tough.

"Hey!" Axel yelps, scowling violently. "I take offense to that!" The other men laugh, shaking their head in amusement. Then they become solemn again, allowing Riku to continue his questioning. "How did you know your sister was... gone?" Riku asks, shifting awkwardly in his seat. Raiden's eyes darken and his smile turns grim. "This." He reaches beside the couch and pulls out a small bit of cardboard, no bigger than a piece of paper. In fact, it looked like it had been pulled out of a notebook or maybe even an old art-book. He flips it over and Riku jumps.

Typed in neat letters on the cardboard were the words: '_Riku, Raiden, would you like to know what happened to Larxene? Black Box XIII lives.'_

Raiden's voice is so quiet that Riku almost doesn't hear it. "Lemme guess... your name is Riku, right?"

* * *

><p><strong>I don't know what I was thinking with the ending.<strong>

**But yeah, Raiden's character is actually one I came up after reading up on Larxene on the Kingdom Hearts Wikia.**

**Apparently, in the Kingdom Hearts novels that were released in Japan, she mentions that maybe having a heart was painful and that Nobodies like her might be better off without one.**

**Raiden came from that little idea, that maybe she had lost someone that was important to her.**

**So anyway, next chapter...**

**Chapter Six: The Savage Nymph; Where Riku discovers the meaning behind Larxene's death and who the Mysterious Figure seems to be targeting. Does Riku have a stalker? What... and who... is up next for the MF's killing spree?**

**Read and review, people!**


	6. Chapter Six: The Savage Nymph

**Well, uh... Here's Chapter six?**

**Disclaimers: Kingdom Hearts and all of its characters do not belong to me.**

**Ending sucks by the way, I couldn't figure out how to do it! **

**Please enjoy either way, despite the crap ending. **

* * *

><p><span>Chapter Six: The Savage Nymph<span>

Riku sits at his desk, silently looking at the scrap of cardboard that Raiden Obinata had handed him. He hadn't said much further on the kid who had given it to them, only that they were wearing "a black jacket, just like these two's. He reeked of something weird... it smelled almost like metal." That had been his only clues. A metallic stench and a black cloak. Nothing more, nothing less.

Not much to go on in any case, much less this one. The only thing he knows for sure... is that he himself is being targeted by the killer.

The young doctor scratches at his silvery hair, a solemn scowl appearing on his face. He groans softly to himself, pulling at his lab-coat in irritation. The two clues from the Obinata case are going to drive him insane, he just knows it. The fucker was taunting him, wasn't he? That was why he wrote his name on the note with Raiden's... He looks down at the black laptop on the desk, noting that it seems to be patiently waiting for him to turn it on. His scowl becomes deeper as he shoves the blasted thing away, pulling his boxed lunch closer to him. He stabs at the burger patty, driving it up to his mouth and taking a big chomp out of it.

He winces as if in pain, his taste buds recoiling at the bland taste in disgust. He drops the rest of it back into his lunch box, tears now threatening to trickle out of his eyes. Riku rubs at them, murmuring softly to himself: "Xion... yours were better. This tastes like crap..." He could even hear the younger girl's scolding voice right now, and the sound of it in his head made the grief that much harder to control. His body trembles in equal parts of anger... anger of his friends' deaths and the effect they were having on his life and the lives of the people he loved... and sheer grief at having lost them.

_'Riku, how could you eat this high-calorie, low nutrition stuff! It tastes disgusting!'_

_**'Heh, you still like her, huh, Riku? Tell you what: you pay me and Axel, we'll let you date her for a few months. Sounds like a good deal, eh?' **_

Riku clenches his teeth in a savage scowl, glaring at the computer screen blankly, as if he was cursing the damn electronic for showing him those images. He sighs before throwing the lunch box's contents into the garbage can by his desk, instead booting up his computer with a few clicks of his mouse. The dancing swirls of color on the screen are quickly replaced by the appearance of a menacing blade flying across the computer and folding neatly into a wing-like holster. _'Welcome, Riku!'_ It announces in a series of beeps, his black screen-saver appearing like a curtain unfolding from a shadowy stage.

He grits his teeth, an unnaturally dark look appearing in his blue-green eyes. A grim smile makes his way across the seventeen year old's face and a low, deep chuckle emerges as his fingers fly expertly across the keyboard. Within seconds, he already has the links to D-TV opening. The all too familiar blue background opens up, and the tiny image of a smiling angel waves to him cheerfully from a corner, happily welcoming him to the site.

_Ami._

He shudders, instinctively associating the once innocent angel with something horrible. Riku trembles slightly, almost gagging on the strong stench of charcoal. The smoke sticks to his lungs, and he struggles to breathe despite his knowledge that there is nothing in the room with him. The memory is simply too powerful, and he collapses on his chair, resting his head against the cool oak desk for a moment as he struggles for oxygen.

The thick acrid smoke of burnt clothes, the thick rolls of peeling blackened skin from bloody flesh... Riku clutches at his chest, breathlessly trying to pump in air to his failing lungs. Their screams echo in his mind, growing softer and softer... almost as if they were vanishing from within his consciousness... A voice quietly pleading for the life of his sister... the fragmented laughter from the beginning of the video, from before they died, slowly grows louder and louder, mocking him with their happiness. His head pounds violently, the endless drum beat mimicking the ones of the metallic laughter of a masked boy... He slumps over at his desk, the tears pouring from his eyes in sheer misery... Xion... Roxas... He'd failed... Why them? Why?

The door creaks open, startling Riku out of his nightmarish reverie, forcing him to look up. The intruder blinks slowly at him, silently observing him before smiling weakly. "Did I interrupt something, Riku?" Sora asks softly as he walks in, shutting the door behind him with one well-aimed kick. Riku stares at his friend, watching in amazement as he quickly pulls on a red lab-coat, the one that had jokingly been assigned to him for whenever he entered the morgue. The long crimson sleeves of the coat slide on easily over the tightly wrapped bandages on his arms and the high collar brushes lightly against his gauze-covered cheek. The brief contact makes him wince but his smile easily comes back onto his face, oddly bright and cheerful against the crisp sterile whiteness of the morgue.

Riku shudders, a pained expression appearing briefly on his face before he masks it with a similarly bright smile; Sora's bandages are coated with a thin layer of blood, almost as if he had just finished savagely hurting himself. "No, nothing important. What'd you want, Sor?" He questions, folding his arms across his chest, keeping himself from leaping up and adding his own brand of pain to Sora's face for being so stupid. He figures it isn't exactly productive to slap the self-harmer. Sora grins and walks over, stretching lazily, his body shifting exactly as it would if he was a cat. He yawns sleepily and hooks his leg around a stool, dragging it up toward Riku's desk with a quick pull. Sora plops himself down, folding his legs up towards his chest, hugging them tightly. "I'm reporting for duty, Riku." He says matter-of-factually, looking at the computer screen curiously though with more than a little fear.

Riku stares at him for a moment before figuring out the obvious reason: Sora wanted revenge for his brother and sister. And the best way he knew how was to help the police catch the kid who had murdered them. He nods, opening up a drawer lazily. He pulls out a few folders, gathers them up neatly into a pile and hands them to the younger teen. Sora looks at them and grimaces, obviously recognizing homework when he saw it.

Riku smiles a little; it's almost like being back at school with Sora. … Well, when it was normal. With no crazy psychos murdering their classmates. "No if, and or buts, Sora. You're reading the case files. And you're going to be looking at the videos, if there are any more. You got that? You want in, you have to take it." Riku says bluntly, refusing to spare his friend with any sugar-coated garbage. Sora glances over at the morgue, more specifically at the huge cabinets that lined one of the walls. It was where they stored the corpses until a family member could be reached, or until the police allowed the facility to release them.

Xion and Roxas were inside them, too.

Sora breathes softly, trembling slightly. He opens up the file and sees the topmost photo graph. Xion's charred corpse looks up at it from within the frame of the glossy snapshot, her lips burned off, her skin nothing more than a black coating of ash over her cooked muscles. Her tiny teeth show clearly against the dark background of her body, tiny flecks of white in a dark background. She almost seems to be smiling, if a little grimly, as if she didn't want the picture to be taken. Her eyes are gone, most likely boiled or burned out of her sockets from the heat. As Sora stares at the image of his little sister, his hand absentmindedly brushes against his own eyes, as if trying to imagine the same color in that tiny skeleton's eye sockets.

She is even smaller in death than she had been in life. And Sora knows it.

Sora slams the folder shut, a grim smile appearing on his cheerful features. A cold look appears within the depths of his sky-blue eyes, reflecting his need to have whoever had done this pay. "I won't ever let this go, Riku. _**Never**_. I'm in. Especially if it means I get to go after whoever did this to my baby sister and to my brother. They crossed the line. That gives me the right to break their face." He adds the final comment venomously, putting the manila folder back on Riku's desk. He looks up at his friend expectantly, as if thinking he could pull out another folder that would lead them further into the case.

In response, Riku simply clicks his computer mouse, reopening D-TV as the smiling Ami angel begins to wave cheerfully at him again. "Good. Now let's see if you can help me with Larxene." He says quietly, and the two teenagers quickly scan through the home page, looking through the new links that had been posted by the users of the site. Among the oceanic blue headlines of _'stuff Kitty did'_ and _'Bad $$ Skateboarding Trick on Sunset Terrace!'_ there was a single, jet-black link.

In unison, the boys read it out loud. "Black Box XIII: 12." They glance at each other, briefly puzzled by the number 12. What could it mean? This was only the second video, after all. Then it hit them. Riku slaps his hand into his forehead, growling softly under his breath. "Larxene's number 12 in the Organization. He knows that. … Xion and Roxas... what were their numbers, Sora?" He asks, reaching for a pad of paper that he knew was in his desk somewhere. "... Fourteen. And thirteen. Xion's fourteen and Roxas was thirteen." Sora murmurs softly, coming to the same conclusion that Riku was. Not only did this guy target Organization members, he was killing them in a reverse order to their membership numbers. Sora grimaces. "So whoever's number eleven is going to be next. Great. We're going to have to protect _**him**_." Sora says bitterly, a savage scowl appearing on his face. He shudders at the idea of helping the next member. He rubs at his arms, rubbing at where he knew several very dark scars were hidden beneath his bandages.

He had no love for XI, and they practically had killed each other the last time they had met. … Well, after Sora had punched him in the face.

Riku sighs, shaking his head. "It's our duty." He says softly, no more happy than Sora was about helping the next member. In fact, he's even _**less**_ pleased. It had once been Riku's job to put Marluxia Inoue in jail, after all. Sora curses. "Great. We know the order though. Riku, we know the order of the deaths up to Xemnas. After that, we don't know who's going to be up next." He mutters darkly, ripping a sheet of paper off of an unused notebook on Riku's desk. He starts scribbling small pictures, tiny caricatures really, of the members of the Organization.

As Sora writes his "notes," scribbling small comments beside each individual doodle, Riku turns back to the computer. With a savage scowl on his face, he clicks the black link and leans back in his chair, the pad of paper already retrieved and on his knee. Immediately, the website demands for him to log in, a standard request for all videos that it deemed too obscene for the public view. With a silent curse, Riku types in the information and with an almost cheeky wave from Ami the Angel in the corner, it dutifully sends him on his way.

The video opens up immediately without any prompting from Riku's mouse.

As it played, the image of a small silver shape appears on the screen. The object sparkles like molten glass and as the boys watch, it begins to spark with an all too familiar blue light. Electricity. The image of the glass knife fades away after a few seconds, revealing Ami the Angel, lying on her back.

She stares upward, directly at the camera and in turn, the viewers. Her eyes were closed, hiding the sharp crimson eyes beneath her pale lids. Her hand clutches at her chest, almost like she was having trouble breathing. For a moment, the angel looks like her normal image, the sweet little girl that every kid on the island secretly liked because of her purity. She was the representation of the child in everyone, the one that everyone kept hidden, the pursuer of the mystery of life.

The moment that her eyes snap open, Sora and Riku flinch, staring in startled silence. When the angel's mouth curls up into a confused grimace, her dark blue eyes fill with silent tears. Her lips move slightly, like she was about to speak; an unheard event for the mute creature. The camera suddenly moves out a little, showing the girl's chest. As she slowly sits up, a pair of white feathery wings unfurl from her back, which tremble in the imaginary wind of the images. In her arms, she cradles two small dolls.

"That's... _**no**_..." Sora hisses softly, his own eyes filling with tears. Without another word, he lightly touches the two tiny shapes. As the angel sits up, she shakes her head, clutching the dolls to her chest. The bigger one's blonde hair sways in the wind, his tiny plush head resting against the crook of her arm. Riku's breath catches in his throat as he stares at the screen, violently trembling. The smiling Roxas and Xion dolls look up at him, their large blue button eyes staring mockingly at them both.

Ami's unfocused eyes blink sleepily into the camera before her smile becomes wider, almost giddy with excitement. The dolls in her arms are dropped to the ground as she gets to her feet. With an over-dramatic arm gesture, the image Ami once again begins to shift and warp, blinking her eyes once. The sky blue is quickly replaced with a bloody red. her sweet smile contorts into a cruel insane grin, her normal silence broken by a sickeningly familiar high-pitched giggle. The pure white wings on her back turn jet-black and Ami laughs louder. Strange splotches appear on the girl's body; bloody smears trickle down her arms and drip onto the pale fabric of the dolls. She holds her arms out beseechingly, as if asking them to stay.

The image changes to black and then shifts to...

Larxene.

Riku watches the screen intensely, grimacing. The image was strangely distorted... almost like there was something over it. Something he couldn't identify. Sora leans back in his stool, drumming his fingers against his knee in anticipation.

The image of Larxene groans in the video before leaning back lazily against the wall. The teenager yawns sleepily before muttering something to herself darkly. Neither of the boys bother to try to read her lips, knowing that she probably said something along the lines of _'God, I wish I was at home.'_

The older girl looks around lazily on the rooftop, as it's very clearly apparent that she had been skipping school. Riku squints at the far off image and groans. From the paper sack on her knee, it was obvious that she had been planning on an early lunch. Sora grins and continues to scribble on his paper. Riku shakes his head and continues his notes, writing down Larxene's name and what she had been doing before she had been killed.

Then something black entered the screen. "Huh?" Larxene, Riku and Sora say in unison, each one startled by the sudden appearance of the kid. Without saying a word, he walks over to the concrete ledge where Larxene had been sitting and plops himself down. In his hand, he holds a small, black box.

Larxene blinks at him, giving the kid an irritated look. "Um, excuse me. Did I _**say**_ you could sit here, runt?" She demands curiously before reaching into her pocket with one hand, opening her lunch bag with the other. Riku winces and writes something down on his paper: **'Audio for vic's voice perfect. Recording.' ** Sora looks at his paper and nods, making another note on his own page.

It was clear that once again, the perp had a wire on him, allowing him to get such great audio quality. One would almost think it clever, if not for how it was being applied.

Larxene slaps the kid on the head, making both boys jump. "Heeeelllooo! I'm talking to you!" She sneers spitefully, smacking him again. The boy doesn't even flinch, doesn't even make a sound. Larxene stares at him before balling her hand up into a fist, slamming it into the boy's temple with such an audible _**smack**_ that both Riku and Sora wince in sympathy pain. The boy tumbles out of his seat from the sheer force but doesn't move otherwise. Larxene stares at him incredulously.

"... What the hell's wrong with you?" She asks curiously, almost admiringly. As if being hit in the head several times without saying anything was a redeeming quality in a person. The boy shrugs lazily before opening up the box, pulling out a sandwich. He looks at it critically before handing it over to Larxene, shaking his head in what looked like disgust.

With a silent shrug, she takes the food and starts eating her lunch lazily. "You sure are weird, Xion. Last week you would have taken my head off for hitting you. Not to mention you would have snitched on me to Axel. Maybe you're finally growing a spine, Miss 'Mysterious Number.'" The girl says with what almost sounded like pride, biting into her sandwich thoughtfully as she watched the 'girl.'

The figure simply chuckles and nods before lifting his mask a little, presumably to snack on the second sandwich he had pulled out of the box.

With a visibly irritated look, Larxene reaches into her pocket, removing a slim yellow phone. She flips it open, checking the number before placing it to her ear. "What is it? I'm kinda busy here, you know." She demands, rolling her eyes at the figure as if commenting how much of a bastard the caller was for calling her while she was eating. Then a curious expression appears on her face and she turns away from the boy, looking completely confused. "What? Axel, wait, slow down. What do you mean _'I'm next'?_ Next for what? … Xion? What about her? … Roxas? …. They're... No... you've got to be wrong, VIII. … I know what you're so scared of, you big baby. But... there's no way that Xion can be dead." she pauses and glances down toward the figure. And then she responds quietly to what must have been a question.

"Cause she's right here with me."

The moment that Larxene freezes, her dark blue eyes widening in surprise, the figure shoves his sandwich back into his box and chuckles softly to himself. With an almost deliberately slow gesture, he reaches toward his hip, where Riku knew a small knife pouch was hung.

Within a second, there's a clear dagger in his hand. Larxene barely even has the time to drop her phone before the knife is at her throat, slicing at the girl's cellphone strap right off as it falls. The tiny cartoon duck squeaks as it hits the floor and a low laugh is heard emerging from under the boy's hood.

The soft, almost mechanical snicker is purposely mocking as the boy slowly traces the very edge of the knife against the older girl's throat. A trickle of blood dribbles down her neck as he cuts her, barely doing enough damage to injure her. A savage smile appears... on Larxene's face.

Riku and Sora both flinch, each one recognizing the coldly amused smirk. Sora even begins to clutch at his arms, shivering slightly.

Larxene chuckles softly before lifting her hand to her throat, wiping at the paper-thin cut. Her blue eyes turn steely as she glances down lazily at the crimson smear on her fingers. "Now it's my turn." She says in an icy voice.

The figure immediately retreats, and as he does so, Riku notices a strange behavior. "Sora, do you-?" The teenager whispers before Sora gives a nod. He puts his pencil by his piece of paper. "Yeah, Riku. I see it. He's shaking." Sora says as Riku scribbles down the information on his quickly filling pad of paper.

The figure trembles violently as he backs away from Larxene, his entire body behavior reflecting an intense fear. He was absolutely petrified of Larxene. Unfortunately for him, Larxene's sharp eyes do not miss this detail. She smirks and a flash of what looked like recognition suddenly appears. "Oh, of _**course**_! Why didn't I see it before? I wonder why you're here... Is it really to kill me?" She demands in amusement as she steps forward.

The figure only trembles, clutching at his arms in fear. Oddly enough, the gesture is familiar to Riku... He scowls, not understanding or remembering where he had seen it before. Larxene chuckles on screen.

"Well? Are you going to talk or are we playing the mute game now? I never did like when you did that. I always loved hearing you _**scream**_." The Organization member coos the last word mockingly and the figure instantly recoils as she takes a single step towards him. Her smile grows larger and she raises her hand to her mockingly. "You're really getting on my nerves." As the word_ 'nerves' _slips out of her mouth, Larxene's hand spasms closed into a fist. Black tendrils surround her fingers and her grin becomes that much wider.

"No..." A harsh voice mutters quietly and both boys instantly recognize that it was the mysterious figure speaking. Sora shivers and Riku places his hand on the younger boy's shoulder, instinctively comforting the boy he had seen as a little brother for most of his life. Larxene only smirks in response. She raises her hands, revealing the bright yellow and blue knives clenched tightly between her knuckles. Her soft laughter echoes eerily on screen, sending shivers down both boys' and the figure's spines.

Larxene was easily a hundred times more dangerous than either Roxas and Xion... and somehow she had still been taken out. How? The question echoes annoyingly in Riku's mind and he grits his teeth, determined to see just how the vicious witch had been eliminated.

But he really wasn't expecting what happened next.

With a single step, Larxene rushes forward and a violent crackle of electricity flows through the air. In the next second, two things happened. The boy is thrown backwards, slamming into the ground and spinning like a limp rag doll. The second, Larxene steps in front of him and slams a fistful of knives into his stomach. A harsh scream rips through the boy's mouth as torrents of blood spurt out of his stomach cavity, splattering on the ground in a massive red rain.

"Heh. Looks like you weren't so tough." Larxene comments in amusement as she raises her leg. Before the figure could even blink, her loafer is crushed into his head, sending him sprawling beneath her. Her smile becomes that much more cold. "How sad. I thought you would be a bit more of a challenge, you know?" She sneers venomously, spreading her hands apart in an exaggerated shrug. She kicks the fallen child again, savagely sending him sprawling into the concrete wall. He lets out a soft moan but does nothing else, only lies there.

Strangely, Riku finds he was almost sympathizing with the figure.

With an equally cold expression, Larxene grabs the black hood. "Why don't I re- … what are you doing?" She asks softly in confusion as the figure lifts his head. As they watch, the figure begins to tremble. A fleeting look of disgust appears on her face before they all hear it. It is so faint that even Larxene couldn't hear it at first. The figure trembles and his gloved hands shoot out, tightly grasping at the girl's shoulders.

His hysterical laughter makes the body's entire body spasm, the high-pitched mechanical giggles sending chills down the listeners' spines. Riku trembles violently as Sora begins to cry, clutching at his head in pain.

He writes down a single phrase, quickly summarizing the noise. **'Absolute madness.'**And it was. The noise was nothing a normal human being could make, and it sounded both angry and bizarrely happy at the same time, as if the boy would enjoy killing the girl before him.

Then he begins to hum.

Softly, he hums to Larxene in an almost sweet voice. Within a few moments, his voice shifts into a soft hiss and as the song escapes his lips, Larxene freezes, staring in shock at the boy before her. "Kagome, Kagome," Sora says quietly to her image, instantly recognizing the tune. The boy grips her shoulders that much tighter. Beside Riku, Sora lets out a soft choking noise, looking at him as the song lyrics escape his lips.

Riku knows the song, too.

With a gentle shove, the boy presses Larxene forward, walking away with her from the wall. Strangely, his massive injuries don't seem to bother him in the least. "The bird in the cage, when, oh when will you come out?" Sora sings out in an inquisitive melody as the figure cocks his head to his shoulder as he pushes forward. Larxene doesn't struggle in the least, remaining perfectly still, as if hypnotized. The boy's fingers squeeze that much tighter into the girl's shoulders and black tendrils dance over his gloved hands. "In the evening of the dawn, the crane and turtle slipped..." He lets go at this point, stopping them both. Both teens are now in the middle of the roof-yard, silently staring at each other.

Larxene's eyes widen as the figure vanishes in a swirling cloud of strange smoke. The wispy black haze quickly disappears just as quickly and the girl is left alone. For a moment, everything is silent. The only thing showing that the video was still going was the single tear that trickled down Larxene's cheek. She remains silent and then, she closes her eyes without a word, her shoulders slumping over in what looks like understanding.

As Larxene waits, Sora says the final line in the eerily lullaby-like song.

"_Who's that behi-ind you?"_

As the first of the figure's knives drive through Larxene's back, she screams, howling in pain. The blood cascades down her spine as she crumples forward, her head bent backwards in severe pain. The tears flow freely down her cheeks as she drops to her knees. With a calm swipe of his hand, the boy tears the knives across her face, leaving behind several small, shallow scratches. He barely even bothered to put any force into the blow, but it was enough to slap her awake.

With a savage scream, Larxene jumps to her feet, snarling in challenge to the boy who had dared raise his hand to her. A low laugh emerges from beneath the porcelain mask as he brandishes the handful of glass knives at her mockingly. He cocks his head backwards, as if daring her to come closer. To make it even worse, he actually slips them back into his hip pocket, as if saying that fighting her wouldn't even be worth dirtying them.

Flickers of electricity begin spark around the furious girl and she snarls out violently: "I take it back. _**Now**_ you're getting on my nerves!" She charges forward, angrily swiping at the boy. With amazingly light steps, the boy's body darts backwards, easily dodging each and everyone of Larxene's attacks. When she tries a final time to strike at his ribs, the girl quickly gets pulled in, her wrist tightly grasped in the boy's hand.

A low chuckle emerges from beneath the mask.

A sickeningly loud crunch echoes out in the empty roof-yard and Larxene screams, struggling violently against the boy holding her. Her hand is limp in his, twisted at a strange angle. Riku grits his teeth. He had broken her wrist. As some of her daggers tumble from her hands, Larxene screams that much louder, desperately resorting to kicking violently at his feet. Even though the blows must have hurt, the figure doesn't move, keeping his tight grasp on Larxene.

With the other hand, he reaches into his pouch once more, pulling out a metal knife again. He squeezes the rubber handle, pressing the blade's tip to her face. Larxene's body spasms once before her face becomes frozen, as if she finally understood what was happening. A startled recognition fills her eyes as she swipes at the boy, furiously trying to get away.

There was only one thought in Riku's mind when he saw that face. Larxene knew this boy.

The figure only laughs as his fingers enter his pocket again, dragging out several of the knives once more. Riku can feel the laughter echoing in his bones as the figure cocks his head onto his shoulder, the sickening malice crystal clear. The bizarre knives almost seemed to sparkle in the sunlight. He separates them, scraping the two glass knives together, producing a cobalt blue spark that arches neatly between the points of the two knives.

Sora's eyes narrow and he makes a soft noise, as if recognizing something.

"Why...? Why would you...? Why us...?" Larxene shrieks out furiously, obviously too frazzled by the electricity to say much else. The hidden boy laughs again and gently curls his left hand in a slow wave. With a lightning fast motion, he stabs the metal knives into the girl's chest. Larxene's eyes widen as she began to spasm uncontrollably, as if startled that he had managed to touch her. The girl screams as she loses her balance and tumbles over the edge of the building. Hitting the edge of a roof-like structure just above the first floor, bouncing off of the canopy, her screams suddenly die off when she slams into the ground.

Her body remains perfectly still.

The boys stare as the figure collapses before them, clutching at his stomach in pain. A low wheeze emerges from beneath the blank mask before a gloved hand lightly touches his head. The hand gently caresses the boy's head, as if comforting him.

Riku jumps, staring at the new addition. The boy trembles beneath the figure's fingers, obviously afraid. But the two say nothing, instead remaining in silence. Riku stares at the new figure's hand, instantly recognizing it as a man. The hand was too broad, too. Large, too.. oddly shaped to belong to a woman. Before he or Sora could say a word to each other on this little development, the new figure in the video says something softly.

The video quickly cuts to black.

Now Riku sees his own image, his own face, kneeling before Larxene. Before the Riku in the past could do anything, the knife sends the fatal shock of electricity through her heart, killing her instantly. Her body spasms harshly before falling limp once more. Her eyes grow blank and empty, forcing Riku to look away.

"Riku. Look." Sora says quietly, tugging on Riku's arm. His voice is oddly quiet, even bizarre quiet. Riku looks up at him, instinctively feeling like there was something wrong. He looks back at the screen, gritting his teeth. What could happen now?

The words "Black Box XIII" appear beneath Ami's sandals once more, as she solemnly looks at something in the distance. She holds her hand out to it, offering the object something, anything to get it to come over. The word 'Remember' dances briefly over her head before the video zooms off. As it focuses on the new object, Sora lets out a violent swear.

A new figure was curled up around the Xion and Roxas dolls, a very familiar one. Its silvery hair catch the light in the image and its green-blue eyes shone. His hands are tied tightly to each of the dolls' cloth ones, as if they were being held prisoner with him. Riku's own image smiles darkly up at Ami, as if he was threatening her. She just giggles softly, crouching down near him.

"Riku...You're..." Sora stammers out quickly, quite visibly shaken by the image of his friend in the video. And he had reason to be. It was a perfect likeness of the older boy, right down to the silver hair and the violent scowl.

Riku glances at him before gritting his teeth, quietly finishing his friend's rambling and adding his own theory to it. "He's got an accomplice. … And whoever these two are, they're targeting me." The older boy says as he stares at the likeness of himself in the video.

The angel reaches out to the Riku in the video, grabbing a handful of his hair and tugging at it lightly. Ami just smiles diabolically at him, as if telling him that he had gotten the right answer.


	7. Chapter 7: Fragments

**Alrighty, I'm trying something a little new today. (Suuure, that's it. :D) This next chapter is all from the point of view of our mysterious killer, and I'm going to be dropping a serious amount of hints throughout this chapter. Five Forbidden points to whoever can get me a legitimate guess! Whoever gets the right guess, gets to guest star in the story. (Lame prize, I know.) **

**Ugh... can I be more obvious? **

**Of course, I could just be screwing with you all. **

**Disclaimers: Story's mine, characters (except Raiden, Dante, and so on) are Disney's or Square Enix's.**

* * *

><p>Chapter Seven: Fragments<p>

He sobs into his hands, screaming soundlessly into his palms as the blood drips from his body, soaking away in the water. The hot shower hurt him, the pounding of the water on his back splitting open the cuts on his arms. He hisses softly, growling as the fresh blood is cleaned off of him and then replaced by fresh gore.

His master was waiting for him, waiting for him... He had to get to his master... The mysterious figure grabs at his hair, letting out a howl of pain as the tears flow down his cheeks. A deranged expression takes hold of his face, his eyes filling with a strange brand of anguish.

He had to remember his objective.

A cruel smile slowly turns up his lips as he hums softly to himself, humming the song that they had taught him so long ago... as he remembers the games they once played together.

"M...as...ter..."

Beneath his hood, the man's dark green eyes gleam ominously, as if he was about to lose every last bit of sanity that he had left in his thin frame. He reaches up to where his heart was and gently squeezes the chain that now hung from his neck, silently allowing the tears to drip down his cheeks.

His raspy voice, hoarse from crying, echoes softly in the dark alleyway. "Why? You just... answer me why!" He screams viciously, slamming his clenched fist into the wall. The bricks, despite how he obviously didn't put much strength into the blow, tremble slightly.

In front of him, the boy only looks at him beneath his mask, bowing his head as he sobs into his hands. Axel glares at him, grabbing the front of his jacket and hurling him up into the air with only a loud grunt to show how much force it took to throw him.

The boy hisses softly as he lands, growling as the fresh scabs are stripped off of his back and then replaced by fresh gore. The boy tumbles into the ground, his arms splaying loosely besides him. The impact causes nothing but that low, mechanical sound to emerge from his lips, despite how his previous wounds suddenly began to burst open from the sheer power behind the attack.

He couldn't die here, not now, not by the Eight's hands.

His master was waiting for him, waiting for him... He had to get to his master... The mysterious figure grabs at his hair, letting out a howl of pain as the tears flow down his cheeks. A deranged expression takes hold of his face, his eyes filling with a strange brand of anguish.

He had to remember his objective.

A cruel smile slowly turns up his lips as he hums softly to himself, humming the song that they had taught him so long ago... as he remembers the games they once played together.

Axel slowly walks closer, holding his hand out to his side. Black tendrils begin to crawl up his knuckles, the darkness summoning the beginnings of the sharp edges of the Eternal Flame chakrams. In his other hand, he clutches at the pendant from the jacket his best friend had left behind, his sole reminder that the Arugami-Minami siblings were dead.

He would be making sure that they didn't die in vain.

The boy chuckles softly, lifting his head slightly to look at the enraged pyromaniac. "M...as...ter..." He says softly, closing his eyes shut beneath the mask. He sighs softly, beginning to drift off into his own dreams... even as Axel's blood splattered against the dank alley walls.

The boy just watches as the now frail figure collapses against the floors, the crimson hue dripping across his black boots.

The figure smirks as the man moans from the floor, struggling to force himself up. His arm slips and he collapses again, slamming his head facefirst into the cobblestones. The boy crouches down, tilting his head at him. He sneers, laughing coldly. "You really are a loser! Go back to playing with your toys, boy!" He tells him softly in a sickly sweet voice, reaching out to touch the blood-soaked ground.

When the thick red liquid soaks into his gloves, his eyes widen and the scream tears itself from his throat. He clutches at his arms, screaming his head off as Axel bleeds violently besides him.

He had to do something, he had to help, what had he done? He had to help Axel, he couldn't leave him here to die, he was one of his best friends- SHUT UP.

The boy goes slack as the torrent of thoughts in his head suddenly screech to a stop, leaving his head blissfully empty of the angry and hateful voices that seemed to plague him. Instead, he just bows his head, reaching his hand up over the almost unconscious Organization member.

Axel swears softly, looking up at him with pitiful eyes. The boy growls in his throat, refusing to accept that pity. He'd never liked those looks, not even when he had been little. "I'll... pr...otect you... I promise..." Axel says softly, as if he had guessed the identity of the young killer. He laughs softly, closing his dark green eyes slowly. "I promised you... before... when you were younger... we'd be... best friends..." Axel breathes this out so softly that he barely even could hear it.

The boy smiles. "You never forgot your promise? It's been a long time since Radiant Gardens." He says quietly, flexing his fingers above Axel's head. The soft light of a Healing spell begins over the duo, even as another figure watches from the shadows of the alley, his eyes hardening with grim acceptance.

The healing complete, the boy clings to the rooftops of the hundreds of buildings of the city, jumping from one and then onto another as the ambulances scream under him. It was nigh impossible for someone to get up onto these rooftops, especially without the use of a ladder.

Besides him, the other figure carefully helps the smaller one up, watching him with an almost parental guardianship.


End file.
